Spectres
by Preacher of Kepler
Summary: In the midst of rising insurrections and political turmoils, a man struggling with life is given a chance to have a purpose. ORION gave him that purpose but also the family he never had. But along his journey, he discovers that some enemies are a lot closer to home than he realizes. From supersoldiers to cloak and dagger conspiracies, there is a lot to be uncovered. (Hiatus)
1. Prologue (Act I)

**A/N:**

 **Before you start reading, I want to make it clear that this is not a regular Halo story. As evident by the time period of this chapter, the story will take place decades before the start of the Human-Covenant War. Therefore, there will be no Covenant, Spartans, Halo Rings, Flood, etc. This story will mainly focus on the Insurrection aspect of the Halo universe and the original Spartan program aka Orion Project. Some Canon characters will still make an appearance (though not many since many aren't born yet in this timeline), but I will not spoil it for anyone. Therefore, if this is not the type of Halo story you're looking for, you may find yourself disappointed. However, if you are still interested in this, without further ado, enjoy!**

* * *

 **Date: March 2, 2477**

 **Location: Capital District - New Florencia, V-II System**

 **POV: Henry Jensen**

*Beep

*Beep

*Beep

The alarm continued on the broadcast before an artificial voice spoke.

 _"This is the Emergency Broadcast System. The following message is transmitted at the request of the New Florencia Government._ _A foreign invasion is in progress on the central region of the planet, targeting the cities including but not limited to Hurley, Pioneer Township, Reed, and the Capital._ _All residents are instructed to head to the nearest emergency service center. Military and law enforcement personnel will await you there and assist with your evacuation. Bring a form of ID and one baggage item per person. Be alert and avoid all contact with-"_

"Useless bastards..." muttered Henry before turning off the holo-tv.

Henry went back to packing and proceeded to shove everything he could down his hiking backpack. He obviously couldn't take everything so he only grabbed the important items. He and his seven years old son William had to move fast and couldn't afford themselves being slowed down from extra weight. After double checking his list, he zipped up both his and William's backpack before grabbing the items on the table.

 _'Wallet..._ _ID Card..._ _Phone..._ _Good.'_

Finally, Henry grabbed the last item: his pistol. He unloaded the magazine, checking the ammo before inserting it back in and cocking the pistol.

"Dad, why do you have a gun?" said a voice behind.

Henry turned to see William, shaking with fearful eyes. Kids his age shouldn't have seen their father holding a gun like that. But neither should they be exposed to the horrors of war. Still, Henry hoped that William never had to witness any violence in front of him.

"It's just in case, son. We're going to be alright." assured Henry with a calm voice and holstered the pistol behind him.

"I-I'm scared, Dad...I don't want to go out there... I-" stuttered William, shaking even more.

"Hey." interrupted Henry and put both hands on William's shoulders. "I know this is hard, William. I don't want to leave home anymore than you do but we have no choice. We need to get to the evacuation site. The military will protect us there."

"But soldiers have guns too, dad. Guns are scary..." whined William.

"Yes, but soldiers are the good guys. I promise you, when we get to the evacuation site they will fight and beat all the bad guys while we're safe. And when this is all over, we'll be back home. Okay?"

"Okay, Dad." replied William, sniffing.

"It's time to go now, William." stood up Henry and grabbed William's backpack before handing it to him. "When we get out there, I need you to stay completely quiet and do exactly as I say. Understand?" He earned a nod from William and continued. "I'm never going to leave your side. You're going to be okay, I promise."

"Okay, Dad," repeated William.

"Alright, let's get moving." said Henry as he put on his bag, followed by William.

Henry quickly turned off all electronics before shutting down the entire smart system of the apartment. Soon, the entire place became dark. He then slightly pulled the window curtains before taking a peak outside. The surrounding streets were mostly empty. But he could still hear the firefights in the distance and see a few enemy ships floating above the main skyline of the Capital. Fortunately, it was night time with heavy rain showers. This would make it easier to move undetected.

"Okay William, let's go." hurried Henry before closing the curtains.

Henry and William exited the bedroom and proceeded down the hallway, reaching the main door. Henry holstered his pistol before attempting to open the door by hand since its automated system was down.

"Shhh, stay quiet." whispered Henry before slowly opening the door.

The hallway seemed dimmer than usual with the lights flickering. Slowly, he stepped out before quickly pointing his pistol at both directions; The hallway was clear.

"Take quiet steps." whispered Henry quietly before closing the door behind. "Stay with me at all times, got it?"

"Yes, dad." complied William and followed behind.

They continued on their path, checking around every corner and avoiding all the windows. The entire apartment building was eerily silent as most have already fled. Henry wasn't surprised if he and William were the only ones in the building. In fact, he hoped that was the case. Finally, they stumbled upon a door with a stair sign. This was their ticket to the ground floor.

Henry opened the door partially in the same slow fashion, aiming his pistol through the narrow gap. Once he was sure, he continued pulling the door. However, what he heard next made his heart nearly stop. What sounded like a door being breached followed by someone barking orders.

"Check every fucking floor! Round up the civvies outside and shoot them if they resist!"

Henry grabbed William before looking at him with serious eyes. "Don't move!" whispered Henry even more quietly.

"Got it, boss!" said another voice downstairs, followed by rapid footsteps.

William had the same fearful eyes again and began breathing rapidly. Meanwhile, Henry peaked over the railings and spotted about a dozen armed men a couple floors below. Half of them exited the stairwell while the other half continued sprinting upstairs. Milliseconds before one of them looked up, Henry immediately backed off from the railing and grabbed William, barely avoiding being spotted. They quickly stepped back through the door before quickly but quietly closing it.

"Dad, what are we gonna do?" panicked William.

Now, Henry was on the verge of hyperventilating as well. However, he quickly spotted a chair next to the door and had a solution. He then picked up the chair and set it against the door, jamming the handle. The old movies didn't lie. It was a classic and simple method for blocking doors.

"That should do it for a while. But we still can't stay, come on."

"But where do we go now?" asked William.

He began looking around for ideas and in truth, he didn't know the answer to that.

"Well..." wondered Henry, looking around. "Stay here." he said and walked towards one of the windows. As he took a slight peak outside, another opportunity appeared as he spotted a fire escape right below. "Get over here, William. We're going outside-"

*Knock

*Knock

*Knock

*Knock

Henry immediately aimed his pistol towards the source of the knocking. The stairwell door handle began struggling against the chair before the knocking continued.

 _Oh shit..._

Suddenly, gunshots followed from the other side, though the door's steel frame blocked the bullets from piercing. Immediately, Henry forced the window open before picking up William and setting him on the fire exit platform.

"Dad, there's bad guys!" cried William.

"I know, son! We're getting the hell out of here!" replied Henry as he stepped over the window.

As soon as Henry stepped outside, he the felt heavy rainfall washing his face, followed by light thunder in the distance. It was good that they both wore rain jackets.

"Come on, William. We don't have all day!" said Henry as he closed the window.

As both walked down the fire escape, Henry scanned for threats on the ground. As much as the rain and thunder made it difficult for them to be spotted, it also made it tougher for them to glimpse the surroundings. It was a double edged sword and he was going to use it accordingly.

So far everything was going according to plan. But exiting the building was only the first step. Once on the ground, they still had to trek a couple kilometers more before reaching the evacuation site. One wrong turn on the streets could mean stumbling upon the middle of a battle. Therefore, until then they were in hostile territory. Still, Henry was determined to protect his son, even if it meant putting his own life on the line.

"Dad, the rain is too cold..." shuddered William.

"Just hold on, William. It'll be all over soon." assured Henry as he gabbed William's hand.

* * *

 **POV: Lance Corporal Wesley Perry, CMA Marine Corps**

Corporal Wesley Perry could feel the cold raindrops run down his back through his BDU's collar. Though the heating system kept him warm, he hated being wet while wearing clothes. He brushed it off and continued focussing on the situation.

The invasion truly was unexpected, especially for a remote colony like New Florencia. Wes assumed being stationed here would allow him and his squad to loosen up and relax, away from the all the shenanigans in the inner colonies. At most, he expected to face nuisances like insurgent groups or pirates from the local system. But instead, there was a whole fleet of ships with an army equipped with military vehicles. With a third of the planet now occupied by the invading force, the vacation would have to wait.

"Your turn, Corporal." ordered Lieutenant Finnic.

"Copy, LT." whispered Wes. While his squad held position by a couple abandoned cars, Wes moved past his men and took point before signaling the Lieutenant. "Ready, LT."

"Let's move." ordered Finnic, leaving Wes to lead the way.

The Marines quietly walked along the deserted street and continued on their recon mission. Despite the heavy fighting, the city's building structures mostly seemed intact and there weren't as much debris, though the lack of power made the night time even darker. Their objectives for now were to find other scattered military units and direct them to the evacuation site for regrouping, as well as also marking the coordinates of enemy positions throughout their path. Combat was to be avoided if possible. So far it has been an hour and they've found no friendlies nor civilians. Instead, they found themselves narrowly avoiding frequent enemy warthogs patrols and rooftop snipers. Still, they stuck with their duties and continued moving.

"There's nothing but tangos everywhere, LT! Let's just call in a strike and blow this place!" complained Private Jay.

"There are potential civilians here, Private! Cut the bullshit!" retorted the Lieutenant.

Jay moaned before mumbling quietly, "To think I was actually going to chill on this backwater planet... Now here I am getting frostbites from this fucking freezing rain while fighting a goddamn army! I don't know which one is wor-"

"Shut it, Private!" interrupted Sergeant Hollande. "You joined the force and this is exactly the type of shit you signed up for! You're gonna shut up and enjoy it!"

"Thank you, Sarge." thanked Finnic.

"Hold!" whispered Wes.

"What is it?" asked Finnic as he stopped immediately.

Wes activated the telescopic feature on his HUD and zoomed in his vision on the approaching lights in the distance. As they cleared the fog, faint outlines of warthogs emerged and they were approaching fast. As soon as he saw the foreign markings, he motioned his squad.

"Enemy patrol, 12 o'clock!" warned Wes.

The entire squad ducked to a prone position and hid behind the parked cars before the warthogs passed. Their turrets continued to monitor the side of the street, hoping to catch any stragglers. Fortunately, the patrol didn't seem to stop and continued driving by. However, this patrol was different from the ones encountered previously as a voice came out of one of the hog's loud speaker.

 _"Dear citizens of New Florencia, we are not your enemy! As fellow colonials we are here to liberate you from the corrupt Kleptocrats of the Earth Government and its puppet by the name of the Colonial Administration Authority! They have exploited the colonies of our rightful wealth for their own agendas far too long! Join our cause and help us liberate the other colonies from the grasp of the tyrants on Earth!"_

The loud speaker's voice soon became faint as the enemy patrol continued down the distance. As soon as Finnic determined the coast to be clear, he motioned the squad to get up.

"We're clear." said Finnic.

"What the hell was that?" asked Jay, standing back up.

"Just a bunch of bullshittery, that's what." replied Hollande.

"Cut the crap, boys. Let's keep moving." ordered Finnic.

Once again, the Marines continued their jog along the street, while vigilant of every alley, window and other blindspots along the way. Eventually, they reached an intersection and Lieutenant Finnic ordered to hold position before a corner of a building.

"Hold." ordered Finnic before signaling Wes. "Corporal, check the corner."

"Yes, sir." complied Wes and took out the snake camera.

As he activated the snake, its camera feed appeared on his HUD. He then slowly extended it out of the corner and began controlling it from his helmet. To his surprise, he saw a dozen enemy infantry simply standing around the sidewalk right around the corner, seemingly in boredom. On the other end of the street was a hotel building, which still had power and also had snipers on its rooftops.

"A dozen infantry right around the corner and three snipers on the hotel roof on the other side of the street, LT."

As Finnic looked looked through the snake's feed, he knew there was no way they could move across and continue their path. The intersection was mostly empty space and they could easily be spotted in the open.

"There's no way we can cross this road, sir. We have to find another way." added Wes.

"You don't say, Corporal..." replied Finnic.

"Shall we detour and seek another route, LT?" asked Hollande.

"Sir, we could enter one of the buildings and sneak by the tango group while also avoiding the snipers." suggested Jay.

"And do you have any idea where the buildings lead to, Private?" retorted Hollande.

"Uh, it's better than crossing the open, Sarge."

"Patrol! 6 o'clock! They're back!" interrupted Wes.

The other three turned around and saw car lights in the distance once more. They were now trapped.

"We have no choice, LT!" said Wes.

"Alright, everyone go in!" ordered Finnic.

Private Jay opened the entrance door to an office building and entered, followed by the rest. When everyone was inside, Sergeant Hollande quickly closed the door before the warthog patrol reached their position.

"Man, that's a relief..." said Jay as he dried himself with a rag. "I say, if we stayed out there longer we would've gotten a cold."

"So Private, where do we go now?" asked Hollande in a sarcastic tone.

"I-I haven't thought this far, Sarge..." replied Jay.

Meanwhile, Wes also took the time to dry his face and his rifle with a rag. Like the Private said, it was pouring outside.

"Cut it." interrupted Finnic. "We'll seek another exit and continue from there. We have a mission and we're sticking to it."

"Hoorah." uttered Jay.

"Let's take the stairs, see what we can find." ordered the Lieutenant and led the way.

The office building seemed completely deserted so far. The absence of power left the marines in complete darkness, leaving them to resort to their flashlights. Their wet combat boots left a squeaky sound every time they took a step, which risked them giving away their position. Still, they persisted and finally reached a lounge area. But no one still had any idea where they could find another exit.

"I don't like the feeling of this LT..." commented Jay, looking around.

"Quiet!" whispered Finnic as he heard squeaky footsteps from the hallway ahead.

The footsteps continued to get louder until he could hear faint voices from the other end of the hallway.

"We're screwed..." said Jay.

"Take cover!" ordered Finnic before the squad dispersed throughout the lounge.

Sergeant Hollande and Private Jay jumped over a service desk and hid under while Lieutenant Finnic ducked behind a sofa. Meanwhile, Wes got creative and hid behind a large curtain.

"Don't move a muscle..." ordered Finnic through the helmet comms.

The doors on the hallway finally opened. Through walked out six men dressed in rag-tag fashion and armed with outdated rifles. As Wes took a peak, he could tell these men were not professional soldiers. Unlike Wes and his squad, these men bore no uniformity in their clothing. They also handled their weapons in a clumsy manner and didn't seem to shut up with their conversations, being even more talkative than Jay. Only their leader appeared to be somewhat well mannered.

"I gotta be honest, this whole invasion thing isn't as exciting as I anticipated..." said one of them as he sat on the couch.

"Relax, Jenkins! After they resettle the civvies, this entire planet will be ours and we'll get our fair share of loot!" cheered his comrade.

"But what about the whole goal of liberation and such?"

"Ah forget that crap. These people are all mindless cowards anyways. They don't deserve to be part of our resistance movement."

"Shut it!" interrupted their leader. "If you two continue to act like idiots then both of you will join the civvies!"

"Yes, boss..." replied the two men in shame.

Meanwhile, the hidden marines formulated a plan for an ambush.

 _"Ha, amateurs..."_ whispered Hollande on the line, amused.

 _"They have no idea what's waiting for them..."_ commented Jay, smiling.

 _"Alright, men. There are six tangos present. Sergeant, you and Jay neutralize the three by the desk. The Corporal and I will drop the rest. Everyone copy?"_ explained Finnic.

 _"Copy, LT."_ complied everyone in unison.

The marines then gripped their weapons before quietly adjusting their positions.

 _"On my mark!"_ began the LT before taking a breath. _"Three... Two... One! Weapons free!"_

Sergeant Hollande and Private Jay were the first to break cover. Hollande quickly put two shotgun shells into two tangos' heads while Jay struck the third tango's neck with his rifle's butt.

"What the hell-"

Before the leader could finish, Lieutenant Finnic jumped out of the sofa's cover and dug a knife through his throat before slicing it. Next, Wes opened the curtains and gunned down the remaining two tangos with automatic fire.

All tangos were down in a mere five seconds.

"Everyone okay?" asked Finnic.

"Aey'okay!" replied Jay.

"Yes, sir!" replied Wes.

"Too easy..." said Hollande, smiling before looking at the corpses.

"Check the corpses for anything useful. You have one minute." ordered Finnic as he searched the enemy leader's body.

"Look at these imbeciles..." mocked Hollande while searching the pockets. "They're wearing paper armor and using two hundred year old weapons. They don't even have radios for god's sake... Some invasion..."

While Hollande and Jay continued poking fun at the dead bodies, Wes held tight his cross necklace and began praying silently for the fallen enemies. Wes was a devout Christian and always prayed after killing an enemy. After enlisting in the Colonial Marines, some of his religious peers denounced him for joining an organization that required killing. Although he had no joy in killing anything, he still felt a duty to do his part in protecting defenseless colonies against evil forces like the current invaders of this colony. Ultimately, it was up to God to judge them, not him.

"Hey Corporal! What the hell are you doing?" interrupted Hollande.

Wes snapped out of his praying thoughts but quickly finished the final verses before beginning the search on the corpses.

"Nothing..." replied Wes.

"This ain't a time to recite the bible, Perry. You'll have all the time in the world to pray when this is over."

"Copy, Sarge..." replied Wes, ignoring him.

Meanwhile, Finnic ripped off the badges from the dead leader before briefly observing them. He quickly stuffed them in his pocket before getting up.

"Alright, time's up! Let's move!" announced Finnic as he reloaded his weapon.

"Find anything, Sarge?" asked Jay.

"Some cheap cigars... Better than nothing." replied Hollande as he slipped the cigars in his chest pocket.

"Huh, well I'll take this fancy pistol!" said Jay as he held a revolver. "I've never seen a gun like this before though..."

"Looks like something out of a cowboy movie..." commented Hollande.

Jay then raised his eyebrows, "A what?"

"Move it you guys!" interrupted Finnic.

"Yes, sir!" replied them in unison.

The marines stood back up into combat position before marching down the hallway and continuing their search for an exit. Because of the previous encounter, everyone was even more cautious now.

After passing many rooms, they arrived at the other side of the building, finally finding a door with a glowing exit sign. Unfortunately, there were no windows to peak outside for any threats. They were going to have to take their chances.

"Everyone in position." ordered Finnic.

Hollande got on point and readied his shotgun while the rest positioned themselves behind him.

"I swear if it's still raining, I'm gonna be pissed." commented Jay.

"Shut up, Private..." replied Hollande before gripping the door handle. He slowly pushed down the handle before silently pulling it. As the door opened slowly, the sounds of the rain became louder, to which Jay sighed in frustration.

Abruptly, the doors suddenly blasted open, knocking back Hollande while stunning the rest. Before anyone could react, two armor-clad figures barged in before aiming their assault rifles. Regaining posture, Lieutenant Finnic and Wes raised their weapons as well, causing a Mexican standoff between the two parties. As Hollande's vision recovered, he saw what appeared to be two ODSTs with one of them pointing a rifle at his face.

"Whoah! Friendlies, friendlies!" warned Finnic, attempting to calm the two troopers.

"Identify yourself!" ordered one of the ODSTs as he shut the door behind.

"2nd Lieutenant Ronald Finnic, 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion. We're a recon squad sent by Colonel Petraeus." introduced Finnic, still weary.

Both ODSTs looked at each other before one of them nodded and uncloaked his helmet visor, revealing his face. They then lowered their weapons, prompting Finnic and the rest to do the same.

"Apologies, Lieutenant. Couldn't take any chances." apologized the trooper.

"No worries, trooper. Just glad you didn't shoot us. Name and rank."

"Master Sergeant Hakim, 21st Drop Jet Platoon, sir." introduced Hakim.

"Gunnery Sergeant Phillips, same unit, sir." introduced Phillips and helped Hollande back to his feet before apologizing. "Sorry about that, marine."

"Ah no worries... I'm glad to see some Helljumpers." smiled Hollande while checking his weapon.

Wes has heard of the legendary ODSTs but never met any during combat until now. Just the prospect of free falling in a drop pod from space was unthinkable to him. Furthermore, he heard from somewhere that one ODST trooper could supposedly beat a dozen regular marines while having their hands tied to their back. Those were probably myths made up for propaganda. Nevertheless, their combat records and infamy among pirates and terrorists spoke for themselves. He was glad to see them on his side.

"So, what are you doing in a two-man team, Master Sergeant? Shouldn't you be supporting the front lines?" asked Finnic.

"Not my call, sir. I got assigned to the same mission as you. Satellites are down so we're trying to scout the area by foot before the main offensive. There's still a lot of baddies around town." explained Hakim.

"Well have you found anything significant to report?"

"Negative, sir. Just a bunch of rag tag patrol groups and roof top snipers."

"Not that different from what we've seen..." commented Hollande.

"Where are you headed now, Sergeant?" asked Finnic.

"We're heading towards the Market District. We had to detour through this building because of a hog patrol."

"That's exactly where we're going!" interrupted Jay.

"Would you mind tagging along with us? With combined arms we would have better chances of survival. We can part ways when we get there."

Hakim looked at the Gunny, who looked just as unsure.

"What do you think, Gunny?" asked Hakim.

"That may slow us down..." said Phillips. "But then again, we're heading to the same destination so we might as well stick for now."

"It's your call, Master Sergeant." said Finnic.

After a moment of pondering, Hakim decided before answering, "We'll go with you, Lieutenant."

"Alright then, let's move it!" ordered Finnic as he cocked his rifle.

"Yes, sir!" replied the rest in unison as they prepared to move out.

Now, the joint Marine-ODST squad exited the building, sprinting through the rain for the Market District.

* * *

 **POV: William Jensen**

For William, this was something out of a nightmare. He vaguely remembered seeing his dad watch the news on TV about soldiers fighting a war against bad guys, which people referred to as 'terrorists' or 'rebels'. But never in a million years did William guess that this terror would reach his home. It was only a couple hours ago when his dad abruptly came to his school to excuse him from classes before they ended. William remembered asking Henry why he was going home so early, to which Henry avoided answering. But only a couple minutes into the car ride, he looked out the windshield to see multiple ships appearing from the sky. He did not give much thought to it until he saw the ships begin opening fire towards the city skyline. He then felt the car speeding up and turned to see his dad shaking on the wheel. From then, William remembered the chaos that ensued in the rest of the day.

Now, he was walking walking on the dark streets through the freezing rain and he has never been more scared for his life. Aside from the occasional gunshots in the distance, the city was virtually lifeless. He was used to seeing the street lights and the skyline light up the entire sky like beacons. But now, it was completely dark. But despite everything that was going on, he still felt somewhat safe as long as his dad was around. Ever since his mom passed away, Henry has been his sole caretaker and guardian. He has always been there for William when he needed him and right now, he needed him more than ever.

"Dad, where are we going?" asked William, shivering.

"Quiet!" hissed Henry. "Whisper, William."

"Yes, Dad..."

"We're heading to the police station. Once we get there, we will be protected by soldiers and get off this planet." answered Henry.

"How long until we're there?"

"I don't know, son. But we're going to get there."

As they continued down the street, the silence was disturbed by motor sounds in the distance. Henry immediately stopped and held a hand in front of William. Soon, headlights appeared behind the fog while the sound became louder.

"Get down!" whispered Henry and pulled William behind a trash bin before ducking.

William wanted to ask why and see what was going on, but he didn't. After the last encounter on the apartment, he knew it was better to not ask and just trust his dad. Out of the fog appeared multiple military cars with guns on their trunks. William never thought he would encounter them up close like this as he only saw toy models of them. Regardless, they were probably not friendly because otherwise, Henry would've tried to motion them instead of hiding.

As soon as the cars passed, Henry looked up to check if the coast was clear before pulling William back up his feet.

"Let's g-."

"Psst!" said a voice behind them.

Henry immediately pulled William to the ground before turning around to point his pistol at the source.

"Don't shoot!" said the man while raising one hand.

To William's surprise, it was a policeman hiding behind an alley. His blue uniform and badge gave it away and he appeared to be armed with a shotgun. Still, he didn't know if could trust this guy. It could've been a disguise to trick him. But suddenly, he turned to see car headlights appear again in the distance.

"Over here! Hurry!" motioned the policeman.

Not saying anything, Henry and William quickly walked over and entered the alley moments before another convoy of armed cars passed by. As soon as they passed, everyone sighed in relief.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?! It's crawling everywhere with these bastards!" asked the policeman.

"Heading to the police station! What do you think we're doing?" retorted Henry.

"No you're not." stated the policeman bluntly.

"What?"

"It's overrun by bad guys. I just came from there."

William could see Henry's face flush from what he just heard.

"How?"

"The entire station got massacred from the firefight. The fuckers murdered everyone, including the civilians... And I barely made it out alive..." explained the policeman grudgingly.

"What the hell is happening? Who the hell are these guys? Where'd they get all these weapons and gear? They're not fucking pirates, no! They're an entire army!"

"Look dude, I'm just as blind as you are with this! You can ask all the questions you want when this is over but until then, we need to get the hell out of here! Understood?"

Henry didn't even respond as he had nothing to say. The police station was the only hope he had but hearing it completely destroyed, he wasn't sure where to turn next.

"Can you please help us?" pleaded Henry.

"Yeah, there's another evac site a couple klicks from here. It's a little farther than the police station but we have no choice. Just stick with me and do exactly as I say. Got it?"

"Noted." replied Henry before introducing himself. "I'm Henry Jensen."

"Call me Tom." said the policeman while checking his shotgun. "Alright, let's move-"

Bullets suddenly ricocheted off the alley walls, almost hitting William. Henry immediately grabbed William while Tom turned around and raised his shotgun. William turned to see two men with guns down the other side of the alley.

"Targets acquired in the alley!" yelled one of them and both began firing again.

"Shit! Let's go!" said Tom, firing two shells before running out of the alley with Henry and William.

"Stay with me, William! Don't look back!" said Henry, tightly gripping William's arm.

Once again, William was in the street. But this time, everyone ran like hell instead of sneaking quietly along the sidewalk. In fact, both Henry and Tom were running so fast that William couldn't keep up to their paste and his feet simply skidded on the ground.

"Don't stop for anything!" said Tom, breathing heavily.

As the trio were about to make a turn towards another alley, what seemed like a flock of birds flew out of it before hovering still in front of the group. Tom's eyes widened and he immediately stopped, raising his arm to stop Henry and William. These flying objects weren't birds but drones. Their orange digital eyes instantly switched to red before they unleashed their weapons.

"Drones! Take cover!" yelled Tom and opened fire.

Henry and William took cover behind yet another abandoned car, barely dodging the hail of bullets. Tom followed behind and began quickly reloading his shotgun.

"Fuck, we're flanked!" spat Tom as he saw a squad of armed men catching up to them. He then took a quick glance around for an escape.

"What the hell are we doing here?! We need to get out of here!" said Henry, holding William tight.

Suddenly, a drone appeared out of the car's corner and hovered mere centimeters from Tom's face. William's heart sank as he gazed on the drone's piercing red eye on its center. That was interrupted when Tom immediately struck the drone with his shotgun's butt, shattering it to little pieces.

"We're sitting ducks! Let's go!" ordered Tom and stood up before crossing the open street. As foolish this move seemed, Henry had no choice but to follow and broke cover as well before tailing Tom. William on the hand simply followed whatever he was told. Regardless however, the situation seemed hopeless at this point. Everything was already falling apart and they were still nowhere near the evac site.

"Where the hell are we going?!" asked Henry, his voice filled with panicking.

"Shut it and follow me-"

A burst of bullets suddenly struck Tom's legs, leading him to crash on the asphalt street. Him laying on the ground caused Henry and William to trip on his body before falling face-down towards the ground as well.

"Fuck!" groaned Tom before firing his shotgun at the direction of the enemy.

Tom, seemingly unfazed, immediately stood up and began firing his shotgun again before groping a stunned Henry.

"Get up, Henry! Let's g-"

This time, another burst of bullets struck Tom's abdomen. His shotgun fell off his grip before he himself collapsed to the ground again.

As William regained his senses, he could hear Tom wheezing in pain before seeing his stomach leaking out blood. Meanwhile, Henry tightly grabbed William, pushing him behind his own body.

"Targets in sight!" said a gruff voice.

Both William and Henry looked up to see a squad of heavily armed men walking over, all aiming their laser sights on them. They did not look like the soldiers he saw on TV or real life. They were still clad in helmets and protective armor but underneath they wore regular clothing like leather jackets and jeans. Some of them wore skull masks while others had obscene tattoos on their arms. As he looked around further, he saw about a dozen drones surrounding his spot in a circular formation. Their eyes still showed a menacing red and all hovered perfectly still despite the heavy rain.

Tom, who Henry thought was dead, suddenly began twitching his fingers before lifting one of his elbows. He then began to slowly crawl towards his shotgun. But it was too late as the armed men now stood right in front of him, all aiming their sights on Tom.

"Don't do it, Tom!" pleaded Henry but to no avail.

By the time Tom reached his shotgun, his face was only inches from the men's boots. Before he grabbed it however, one of the men pulled the trigger, putting a bullet to his head. Tom's lifeless body now lied still with the rain washing his blood down the street.

Upon seeing blood leaking out Tom's head, William immediately closed his eyes and hugged Henry tighter. Meanwhile, Henry tried to remain still but in truth, he was powerless now and just as panicked. Even William could hear Henry hyperventilating.

"Stay behind me, William." whispered Henry.

Within the squad of men appeared someone donning a black beret instead of a helmet like the others. Unlike the others, he appeared more like a professional soldier due to his clean shaven face and orderly appearance. It was clear this man was the leader among this group. As he withdrew his sidearm, he stepped closer.

"I see! You're a father, huh?" asked the leader, to which Henry did not respond. "So was I! Had two kids back home... Until they were hit by an airstrike from you people!" growled the leader before pointing his sidearm at Henry.

"Wait, stop! please!" pleaded Henry as he raised his hand. "We didn't do anything! we just want to go home!"

"Sorry, bub! You get the bullet too!" smiled the leader as he was about to pull the trigger.

This was it now. Nothing else mattered to Henry but the safety of his son. And he was willing to die for him.

"Run, William!" cried Henry as he grabbed his pistol.

He wasn't fast enough. The leader pulled the trigger and a bullet minced through Henry's forehead. Like Tom, Henry collapsed to the ground, lying motionless with blood beginning to flow from his head. William's world instantly cracked upon the staring into Henry's lifeless eyes. He was too shocked at the moment to even grasp what just happened. Tears began falling down his eyes as he regained his senses.

"DAD!" cried William and started sobbing uncontrollably, holding tightly on Henry.

"Somebody shut that kid up, he's gonna attract snipers!" said the leader as he holstered his sidearm.

Upon hearing his voice, William stopped crying before looking at straight into the leader's eyes. Upon noticing, the leader smiled before chuckling. "What? You want an apology? Stupid kid..." he said before turning to his men. "You fuckers deaf?! Put him down!"

"Got it, sir!" said one of the men before raising his submachine gun. "Sweet dreams, kid." said the man as he aimed at William's forehead.

If the rain didn't make him shiver enough, staring down the gun's barrel made him shake like having a seizure. It was now William's turn to meet Tom and Henry's fates.

A gunshot rang through the entire block. The entire squad looked around in confusion as William's executioner dropped his weapon before collapsing on top of him. Out of nowhere, multiple grenade-like objects landed around them.

"What the hell-"

*Bang!

The objects released surges of electric sparks, causing the surrounding drones to fall like insects while also stunning everyone else. Soon, heavy gunfire rang, to which William instantly closed his eyes and covered his ears before curling up. As the gunfire continued, William could feel the ground slightly shake from the collapsing bodies. In mere seconds, the firing stopped, prompting William to slowly open his eyes. He then looked around to see all the men lying dead on the ground, covered in multiple bullet holes and even more blood on the ground. William flinched from the sight of so many dead bodies and began feeling sick of seeing so much blood. He especially gazed upon the leader, who had two bullet holes on his forehead. As he looked up however, he saw more men with guns running towards him from the distance.

* * *

 **POV: Lance Corporal Wesley Perry**

"Tangos down!" confirmed Wes, analyzing the bodies of the enemy squad.

 _"Kills confirmed."_ followed Sergeant Hollande on comms.

 _"Master Sarge, you and Gunny stay put and provide cover. We're going to check it out over there."_ Lieutenant Finnic.

 _"Copy that, LT."_ replied Master Sergeant Hakim as he reloaded his weapon.

 _"The rest of you are on me!"_ ordered Finnic.

"Yes, sir!" complied the squad.

Wes and his squad broke cover and exited through the building's windows before sprinting over to the middle of the street.

"Drones, really? How the hell can these guys afford them?" remarked Jay.

"Private, shut the hell up!" retorted Hollande.

"And consider that a standing order." added Finnic.

"Damn..." whispered Jay.

As they continued towards the pile of dead bodies, Wes noticed one of them was that of a child's. He shook his head in disgust, appalled how one could do such a thing. However, as he came closer, he saw, or at least thought, that the child's eyes were open before blinking. Unsure if his mind was messing with him, he rubbed both of his eyes before getting another clear look. He could now clearly see the child's body shaking while he gazed his eyes on his squad with fear. The child was alive!

"LT!" called out Wes.

"What, Corporal?" replied Finnic.

"We got a live one!" said Wes excitingly.

"What?!" said Finnic as he raised his rifle.

"NO! NO! NO!" interrupted Wes and raised his hand. "It's the child!"

The squad reached the spot and Finnic and the rest saw what Wes meant. The child instantly began backing off before hyperventilating. His face was slightly covered in tar and had a bruise on the left cheek. Wes could only guess that he was no older than ten years old.

"What the hell's a kid doing here?" asked the confused Hollande.

Wes strapped his rifle on the back before raising both hands to reassure the child. As he looked around however, he saw that the dead weren't just that of the enemy squad. There were bodies of a police officer, as well as an adult civilian, who's arm the child grabbed on to. Looking back at the teary-eyed child, he knew what had taken place here.

"Holy shit..." said Jay, grasping his collar.

"Hey, kid. Shhh, it's alright. We're here to help." said Wes in a calm voice. The child shook his head rapidly and backed up even more. Not wishing to frighten him more than he already was, Wes stopped before slowly kneeling down. "We're not going to hurt you, okay? What's your name?"

Wes was never good with children, but his soothing voice helped relax the child a bit, who seemed to stop hyperventilating. But he still continued to sob softly.

Lieutenant Finnic followed and walked over to Wes before looked around. "What happened here?" he asked.

"This happened, sir." answered Wes as he pointed at the body of the child's father.

Finnic slowly kneeled down, startling the child, before laying a finger on the body's jugular vein. "Damn..." he said as he withdrew his hand. He sighed before looking up to face the kid. "I'm sorry, kid." he said softly.

"Can, Can you h-help him?" stuttered the child. "P-Please?"

Finnic and Wes looked at each other briefly before turning to face the child again.

"I'm really sorry. But your father's gone. There's nothing we can do." answered Finnic, causing the child the cry even more.

"LT, we're sitting ducks out here! We don't have time for this!" interrupted Hollande.

 _"Agreed, sir. I advise against standing too long in the open like that."_ commented Hakim as he eavesdropped.

"Copy, Master Sarge." replied Finnic before slowly standing up. "Come on, men. Let's move."

"Wait, we're not gonna leave him here, are we?" interjected Wes.

"We have an objective at hand and it's not a rescue mission!" countered Finnic.

"You're suggesting to abandon a child in the middle of a war zone?! With all due respect sir, where are your morals?!" challenged Wes, raising his voice.

"Quiet down, Corporal!" said Hollande, anxious of attracting danger.

"Yes, we're in the middle of a war zone! And the gravity of this mission is too great for your damn biblical morals!" retorted Finnic.

 _"LT, there's a vehicle patrol less than a klick from your position! You need to clear the streets, now!"_ broadcasted Hakim on comms.

"Got it!" radioed Finnic frustratingly before turning to Wes.

Out of impulse, Wes spoke up before Finnic could. "LT, permission to leave the squad so I can take the child back to base."

"What the hell are you thinking, lad?!" interjected Hollande.

 _"LT, a patrol of six warthogs, five hundred meters away! We have to go, now!"_ interrupted Hakim once more.

"Shit!" spat Finnic and looked around before turning towards Wes again. "Sergeant, you and Jay clear the street, now."

"Sir?" asked Jay.

"Now!" repeated Finnic and prompting both to nod hesitantly before running off. Finnic then grabbed Wes's arm before leaning in closer. "If you do this, you're on your own and you alone are responsible for the kid. And when this is over, I can't help you when you get court marshaled for desertion. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir." calmly replied Wes.

Finnic, still hesitant, sighed before finishing, "Now go, Corporal."

"Yes, sir!" replied Wes, earning a nod from Finnic before he ran off as well.

Wes finally turned towards the child, who was quietly observing everything that just took place. He then quickly walked over and extended his hands to the child.

"Come on, kid. We need to get out of here. It's not safe here."

"B-but my Dad..." cried the child as he continued grabbed his father's hand.

"I'm sorry, we have to leave him! We're both going to die if we stay here! Would your father want that for you?" asked Wes, to which the child shook his head while sniffing. "Let's go, we'll be safe once we're back on base."

Finally, the child grabbed Wes's hand and stood up.

 _"Be advised, Corporal. The patrol is two hundred meters away and approaching fast. Get outta there, now."_ radioed Hakim.

"Copy, Master Sargeant." replied Wes.

 _"And Corporal, you did the right thing. Good luck out there, you're gonna need it."_

"Thank you, Sergeant." thanked Wes.

Wes could now see the headlights in the distance and immediately sprinted towards the street side. Since he used one hand to grab the child's hand, Wes strapped his rifle behind him and instead took out his side arm with his other hand.

"Let's go, kid." said Wes and both began running down the sidewalk.

As they ran, the child continuously looked back to take glances on his father's body until they were too far away. Once they reached an abandoned mall, Wes checked the surroundings again before proceeding in. Though they could run into enemy contact like the office building previously, it was better than facing armed convoys in the streets. It was also a good opportunity to dry off as well.

"What's your name, kid?" asked Wes, never receiving an answer the first time.

"William..." whispered the child.

"Nice to meet you, William, I'm Wes. I won't let anyone hurt you no matter what, okay?"

"Okay..." replied William, feeling comforted.

"Everything's going to be alright." assured Wes.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hello, I am Preacher of Kepler and some of you may know me as the author of "The Spectre", which went on for two years before I abruptly deleted it from the site. I owe all of you explanations for my actions so bear with me.**

 **First and foremost, I'd like to apologize for abruptly deleting it without any explanation. I realize I may have caused a lot of bleak and empty feelings to those who followed The Spectre, especially to those who grew attached to the story, and I really shouldn't have done that. So again, I whole heartedly apologize. I hope that this new story will rekindle that attachment since many previous characters will return.**

 **Second, the reason I did so was because at the time, my passions changed (so I thought) and I believed it was best to quit my works in this site in order to focus completely on my new passions without any distractions. However, after getting started on my new passion, I still had that empty feeling, as if the work I was doing wasn't fulfilling enough. Part of me was still missing writing FF until finally, it came to me that this new passion I found wasn't something I wanted to do at all. My true passion was in worldbuilding like here and creating artistic works. In other words, it was expressing my inner imaginations in the real world. Therefore, I had to make some difficult choices to make the U-Turn from my previous decision. However, I am glad I'm back here.**

 **Third, The Spectre in its form back then was heading in a direction I did not like. When I first wrote the story, I had no experience in fiction writing whatsoever. I was an amateur and that fact was pretty evident if you read the story more closely. The action sequences were pretty redundant and cliche, the characters were a bunch of Mary Sues, there was no clear plot or direction, thus becoming boring, and most importantly, it wasn't really a Halo story anymore. But by the time I wrote my latest chapter, the story already came so far to the point where it was impossible to retcon it. Therefore, I would've deleted it and started over from scratch anyways.**

 **Now that we have that out of the way, what do I have planned for now and the future? For starters, this new story here is an entirely new version of The Spectre, with much improvement. For those who already read the previous version of The Spectre, many elements and characters of the previous version will still be present and retain their traits. However, there will also be significant differences, especially in regards to the plot.**

 **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. To any of my former followers, welcome back and I promise I will deliver a story much better than the last. I also hope my writing hasn't become too rusty. It's been way too long. To any newcomers, salutations and I welcome you to my worldbuilding.**

 **Please review! Thank you!**


	2. No Regrets

**Date: March 5, 2477**

 **Location:**

 ** _CMA NAGOYA_ _Base  
_** **New Florencia,** **V-II System**

 **POV: 2nd Lieutenant Ronald Finnic,** **CMA Marine Corps**

Over seventeen hours have passed since the onset of battles in New Florencia and the tables have turned. Though initially caught off guard, the CMA forces were able to reorganize themselves before conducting a counterattack against the invaders. The enemy was now in full retreat and the Capital was almost under CMA control again, though pockets of resistance remained in the outskirts. Still, the invading forces were ultimately no match against a professional combined-arms force. The rusty transport ships that ferried them to the planet were quickly shot down by strike fighters and the remaining enemy forces were scattered throughout the planet. For now, the CMA Marines only had to hold their ground until reinforcements of the CMA Navy Battlegroup arrived.

Lieutenant Finnic lit his third cigarette of the day and took a deep puff before exhaling the smoke. He could careless about the health ramifications. He really needed to regulate his stress in situations like these. Fortunately, after the strenuous recon mission last night, his entire company earned five hours of rest on the base before being redeployed in combat with the rest of the colonial forces. Currently, they were on another brief rest and most of the marines, including Sergeant Hollande and Private Jay, were in their tents, attempting to get as much shut-eye as possible. Normally, Finnic would be doing the same but he could not stop thinking about what Corporal Perry did that night. Already, he finished his cigarette and flicked it towards the trash can before taking a stroll throughout the base. As he walked around, he stopped upon seeing a large canopy to his side. Sitting on the benches were none other than Perry and the child he rescued. Getting a glimpse on them, Perry appeared to be attempting to teach the boy a trick his combat knife. Finnic chuckled at the scene as most adults would be horrified of seeing a child play around with a knife. But then again, the boy just lost his father and anything would suffice to distract him from it. Finnic soon caught the attention of Perry, who waved him over.

"You gotta lightly hold the top of the handle but not too strong, okay? Then you spin it." explained Perry to the boy before looking up to Finnic. "Morning, LT."

"Morning, Corporal." greeted Finnic.

Upon hearing his voice, the boy also looked up to see Finnic. His face immediately showed fear, making him flinch and drop the knife.

"Whoah, kid, it's me." said Finnic as he raised his hand and gave a light smile. "Remember me?"

Perry then pat the boy's shoulder before calming him down. "It's okay, William, he's a friend. His name is Ronny."

Finnic then gave a glare to Perry, who shrugged his shoulders. " _Ronny_? Really, Perry?"

" _Lieutenant_ doesn't exactly sound child-friendly, sir." smiled Perry, causing Finnic to amusingly shake his head.

"And what are you supposed to be? Perry the Platypus?" smirked Finnic.

"Uh what?" replied Perry, confused.

"Nevermind." shrugged Finnic before turning to William. "So, your name is William, huh?" asked Finnic before introducing himself. "Well it's nice to meet you, William. My name is Ronald. I'm a friend of Wesley."

William merely nodded in return and went back to playing around with the knife.

"So much for child-friendly..." muttered Finnic, earning another shrug from Perry. "Corporal, can we have a moment?" asked Finnic as he faced Perry.

"Of course, sir." replied Perry as he stood up. "You stay right here, William. I'll be back." told Perry, earning a light nod from William.

The two men continued to walk away until they were a considerable distance from William. They stopped in front of a watch tower, where Finnic took out his cigarette pack once more.

"What do you need, sir?" asked Perry.

Lieutenant Finnic raised a finger before taking out what would be his fourth cigarette of the day. He bit it with his mouth before offering one to Perry.

"Smoke?"

"I already told you, sir. I don't smoke." replied Perry.

"Huh, pussy..." retorted Finnic, causing Perry to roll his eyes.

After lighting the cigarette, he took a deep puff before exhaling the smoke.

"Corporal, you know what this is about." proceeded Finnic.

"Sir, I have no regrets." replied Perry firmly.

"Look, I'm not here to reprimand you by the books. Sooner or later you're gonna have to officially debrief all of this. What I'm curious about is why you'd make such a reckless move! Furthermore, you bring the kid here, out of all places! You do realize there was an evac site not far from where we parted ways, right?"

"The base was closer than any of the evac sites, sir. I couldn't risk going the extra distance." answered Perry.

"You decided to desert your mission and you talk about risks..." smiled Finnic sarcastically. "Furthermore, I hear that you and the kid almost got shot by the sentries when you reached the front gates! What was that about?"

"Sir, it was still dark and there was initial confusion. But we're both here, aren't we?"

"Damn it, Perry! This is what I'm talking about! You need keep your emotions on check! It's time for you to stop with all the bleeding heart nonsense and start evaluating things objectively! Is it too much for you to just shut up and do your damn job?!"

"It was a child, LT! A child in need of help! Are you insinuating that we should've left him there?"

"No..." replied Finnic lowly.

"Isn't our duty to help people?"

"Our duty is to our mission!" retorted Finnic.

"And our mission is to help people!" countered Perry.

Finnic looked like he was about to explode, so much so that he couldn't even respond. To him, he felt like he was dealing with a spoiled brat. It explained why he got along so well with that kid. Finally, he took a deep breath before calming down. Before he could continue however, it was Perry's turn to ask questions.

"Here's my question to you, Lieutenant. Why didn't you stop me? Clearly I was guilty of insubordination and you had every right to execute me on the spot. Yet, you let me go. Why is that?"

Finnic had no answer to this. Perry struck his nerve exactly where he wanted. Perry did indeed break rules but he partly shared the blame as well. As leader, Finnic was accountable for the actions of everyone he commanded. And as Perry mentioned, instead of actually stopping him, Finnic let him go. To be fair, it had to be a split second decision because of the dire situation of the time. Finnic looked into Perry's eyes, who appeared to still stand his ground.

"Look, what you did was noble, I'm not disagreeing with that. I would've considered it too. And frankly I only let you go because truthfully, I knew I couldn't stop you. But here's the thing, Corporal. As a soldier, you should remind yourself of the reality of this work. So take my advice, Perry. If this isn't right for you, then get the hell out of the marines. Hell, you even said yourself that you're uncomfortable with killing. If saving lives if the only part you care about then just join the damn Peace Corps or something. Because if you can't perform the very basic duties like following orders, then I think it's high time for you to reevaluate your place here."

"Who says you have to be comfortable with killing to join the military?" retorted Perry.

Once again, Finnic had no answer to his smartass responses.

"Regardless, however, you're right and I take full responsibility for my actions, LT. In fact, I'll make sure your involvement stays out of it during the debriefing."

"That's not for you to decide, Corporal." replied Finnic. "But you're right about one thing. I bear responsibility as well."

"At least we have something in common..."

Finnic inhaled one last puff before flicking away his cigarette.

"You know that stuff kills your braincells?" commented Perry.

"You're not my mom." replied Finnic, earning a chuckle from Perry. "Also, you really think I would execute you? After all we've been through? I'm offended, Perry."

"Well, considering how Jay gets on your nerves, it's a possibility." smiled Perry.

"You do have a point there." smiled back Finnic.

Suddenly, both were interrupted when a marine staff sergeant walked up them. The staff sergeant greeted Finnic before giving a salute.

"Lieutenant Finnic." greeted the staff sergeant.

"Yes, staff sergeant?" greeted back Finnic.

"Sir, Major Mustafa has requested you and Corporal Perry to report for a debrief."

Lieutenant Finnic and Corporal Perry looked at each other before Finnic gave a reply, "Thank you, staff sergeant, we will be there shortly."

"Speak of the devil..." commented Perry.

* * *

 **POV:** **Lance Corporal Wesley Perry**

*Knock

*Knock

"Enter." answered a voice.

Lieutenant Finnic slowly opened the door and walked in the room, followed by Wes. As soon as Wes closed the door behind him, both men gave a salute before the Major.

"Sir, 2nd Lieutenant Finnic and Lance Corporal Perry report as ordered." greeted Finnic.

The Major returned the salute before gesturing the men, "At ease, gentlemen. Take your seats."

After taking their seats, an uncomfortable silence followed as Major Mustafa simply stared at both men. Wes knew he was in trouble but he was still nervous about what repercussions awaited him.

"You can stop swallowing your tongue, Corporal..." said Major Mustafa.

"Sorry, sir." replied Wes.

"So, I'm going to cut to the chase." Major Mustafa then turned to face Wes. "Corporal Perry."

"Yes, sir?"

"In regards to your actions during your recon op, the report states that not only did you deliberately separate from your squad, but you also brought a child to this base out of all places, when there were numerous evac sites around the city area. Do you know what the implications are, Corporal?"

"It means that I disobeyed my CO and endangered the security and integrity of this operation, sir." answered Wes.

"That is correct, Corporal. Now, I want you to explain what was going on in your head that led to your actions."

"Yes, sir-"

Wes was suddenly interrupted when Lieutenant Finnic spoke up.

"Sir, I'd like to say that as leader, I take full responsibility for everything because I'm accountable for my men's actions-"

Major Mustafa then cut him off before retorting in irritation, "I'm sorry Lieutenant, I didn't realize I was talking to you."

"I... Sorry, sir. No excuse, sir." replied Finnic.

Major Mustafa turned back to Wes before continuing, "Anyways, Corporal, please continue."

"I saw a child in need and I could not stand by the sidelines. He needed help and I gave him exactly that by bringing him to safety." explained Wes.

"And was that your mission objective, Corporal?"

Wes paused for a moment before answering, "No, sir."

"And did you know you were disobeying orders when you made your decisions?" questioned the Major.

"Yes, sir."

"So why did you continue?"

"Again, sir, I couldn't leave the child on its own and had to get him somewhere safe. Doing otherwise is not something I could afford in my conscience." explained Wes.

"So you believe playing hero was more important than your mission?"

"No, sir, I-"

"That type of thinking will get you and your comrades killed. It's biblically asinine, Corporal."

"I understand, sir."

"Do you realize what this means for you?"

"Yes, sir. And I have absolutely no regrets about what I did and take full responsibility for it."

Finnic internally facepalmed himself after hearing what Wes just stated. To him, Wes just seemed to shoot himself on the foot.

"Both of you are held responsible!" retorted the Major, slamming his fist on the table.

"You couldn't perform basic duties and failed as a soldier, Corporal!" chastised Major Mustafa before turning his finger to the Lieutenant. "As for you, Lieutenant! You failed as a leader due to your inability to keep your men together! I don't give a damn if you're a mustang! If the officer world isn't right for you then you are more than welcome to surrender your commission and go right back to being enlisted!"

"Sir, I understand, sir." replied Finnic.

"Back to you, Corporal. Based on your actions, you have a hot seat awaiting you. Your squad may have been able to complete their mission, thanks to to those two Helljumpers. Regardless, however, you still went AWOL from your post. Under the CMA penal code, your sentence may very well result in a reduction of your rank and pay or at worst, confinement in the Brig up to five years!"

The last word caused chills to run down both Wes and Finnic's spines. Sensing that neither had any response, the Major continued.

"Well let's hope to God the latter never happens. And consider yourself lucky that execution is out of the equation." Major Mustafa then paused to look at his datapad before continuing. "When this entire op is over, a full report shall be submitted to High Command. From then on, it's up to them to decide on the appropriate actions. As for the child, Corporal, you are to be his caretaker for now. You brought him in this base so he shall be your responsibility. Is that understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir." complied Wes.

"I hope you take the rest of the time to evaluate both yourself and your place in the force. You're dismissed, Corporal."

Wes stood up before giving a salute. "Sir."

Major Mustafa then faced Finnic before continuing, "And Lieutenant, you and I have more to discuss."

"Yes, sir." replied Finnic.

As Wes turned to leave, he gave the Lieutenant a quick nod, who returned the gesture. After exiting the room, he slowly closed the door behind him before taking a deep sigh.

 _What the hell have I done..._

* * *

As Wes walked back to find William, he could not stop beating himself over the mess he's gotten in. He still had no regrets over saving William and stood by everything, almost. But perhaps he could've done some things differently. But in the end, what's done was done. If being incarcerated in military prison was what it took to save a helpless child, so be it.

Finally reaching the canopy where William was, he flinched when he saw the him surrounded by three other armored figures. Suspecting danger, Wes jogged over to see what was going on.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" called out Perry.

The three men turned around and upon seeing their faces, Wes flinched before sighing in relief. Two of them were none other than Master Sergeant Hakim and Gunnery Sergeant Phillips. Those two really were a saving grace despite the rough encounter at the beginning.

"Hey hey, look who's back!" greeted Hakim, smiling.

"It's the guardian angel himself!" added Phillips.

"Sergeants." greeted Wes.

He then turned to William, who seemed to be doing fine. William immediately stood up from his seat and walked over to grab his hand.

"Hey, how you doing, buddy?" he asked.

"I'm fine." answered William.

"Aw, look who's playing daddy already." commented Phillips, earning a laugh from the rest.

"You guys didn't scare him, did you?" asked Wes.

"Don't look at me, I didn't even touch him." replied Phillips defensively.

"No worries, Corporal, we're just keeping him company." assured Hakim.

"So this is him, huh?" asked the third man.

"Yup, the foolhardy chevalier himself." answered Phillips.

Wes turned to face the man, who sported regular marine BDUs unlike the two sergeants. He also appeared much older with graying hair and slight wrinkles. However, as Wes examined his patrol cap, he spotted a noticeable star on it; This _man_ was a brigadier general. Immediately, Wes' eyes widened in shock.

 _Holy crap! Don't just stand there! Salute!_

He quickly straightened his posture before raising his hand to the best salute he could offer.

"Good afternoon, Brigadier General!" greeted Wes. "Sorry, sir. I didn't see your rank. Um, what can I do for you, sir?"

All three men only chuckled amusement before the general replied, "At ease, son. Masters and Gunny here wouldn't shut up about what happened."

"Hey, it was mostly Gunny, Rainier!" interjected Hakim.

Wes on the other hand, was baffled with how the two sergeants acted so casual around the General. It was probable that the trio knew each other very well.

"Sir?" asked Wes, confused with everything.

"Hakim here tells me that you risked your life and brought this young man to safety on _your_ _own_. Frankly I didn't believe it at first until we stumbled upon William here." explained General Rainier while patting William's head. "The city was crawling everywhere with those bastards yet you both made it back without a scratch. I don't know how you managed to pull that off, but well done, Corporal." he congratulated with a smile.

"We got helmet footage as well." commented Phillips.

"Either you're really lucky, or you know your stuff, Corporal." complimented Hakim. "You could even become one of us some day!"

Wes expected a repeat from his meeting with Major Mustafa. Instead, the General seemed quite content with what happened. But then again, he didn't know the full details of the events. The two Helljumpers probably glossed over and exaggerated everything. Still, Wes couldn't ignore the fact that he was put on thin ice by the Major.

"You seem troubled, Corporal." said the General, his smile disappearing.

"I... Uh... Th-Thank you, sir... But Major Mustafa wasn't too happy..." replied Wes.

"The Major? Why is that?"

"Yes, sir, I was reprimanded during the debriefing. I may have brought this child to safety but in doing so, I had to separate from my squad and abandon the mission. This is technically AWOL and punishable by the penal code, sir." explained Wes. "The Major stated that I would likely face _severe ramifications_. And he's right, sir, and I accept full responsibility for what I've done."

The Brigadier General simply stood there, silent. The two Helljumpers also awkwardly stared at each other, waiting to see what would unfold next.

"Is Wes in trouble?" asked William in an innocent voice.

General Rainier faced down and looked William straight into his eyes before replying with a smile, "No, William, he's not in trouble."

"Sir?" asked Wes, confused.

"I don't think the consequences should be that simple for an extraordinary situation like this, Corporal." added General Rainier before putting a hand on Wes' shoulder. "And I think I might be able to help you with that."

"General, I'm not sure what you're trying to convey-"

"Corporal, you just focus on other things as well as taking care of him. I will go and talk to the Major."

"But sir-"

Wes wanted to protest but the General cut him off.

"No buts. That's enough." said General Rainier before raising his hand to a salute. "Good afternoon, Corporal."

Wes immediately returned the salute, "Good afternoon, Brigadier General."

General Rainier gave a nod before walking off, followed by Hakim and Phillips.

"Don't worry, Corporal, we got your back." said Hakim as he pat Wes' back with Phillips nodding in agreement.

"Thank you, Master Sergeant." thanked Wes with a light smile.

Hakim then turned to William before waving his hand, "Hey kid, see ya around!"

William didn't respond but he still returned the gesture with a hand wave.

"Wow..." muttered Wes, bewildered by what just unfolded.

He didn't know what was more of a unicorn occurrence: Winning the lottery or a brigadier general going out of his way to bail out a lowly corporal like himself. Nevertheless, he wasn't complaining.

"I like him." said William.

"I think I like him too, William." agreed Wes.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hello, readers! Sorry for the long overdue update! Still, I hope this chapter was enjoyable for you! It took a lot of effort and overcoming writer's block to finish this. But unfortunately, I'm afraid the updates won't be as frequent for the next chapters as well. I'm at a very busy moment in life and will have very little time to dedicate to this story. Between college and moving, you get the gist. But rest assured, I still have the future chapters planned and I will not quit on this story.**

 **Regarding this chapter itself, I hope the military dialogue wasn't too cheesy or unrealistic. I briefly did ROTC during college and I'm trying to base the portrayal of the military from that experience, at least dialogue wise. But I also don't want to be too technical and monotone because this is a fiction story after all, not a military documentary or simulation.**

 **Anyways, I hope you can be patient once more for the next chapter.**

 **Please review! Thank you!**


	3. Space Cowboys

***7 Years Later**

 **Date: October 18, 2484**

 **Location:**

 ** _Lyon Secondary School  
_** **Emerald City - Chi Rho, Ectanus 45 System**

 **POV: William Jensen**

 _"La France est le berceau de la langue française."_ recited Madame Vernier.

The entire class followed by attempting to repeat the sentence. The french teacher couldn't help but giggle at their jumbles of poor pronunciation.

Meanwhile, William, bored out of his mind, simply did nothing and impatiently stared at the clock, eager to get out of class. For him, the last couple minutes were always the most agonizing.

"Don't worry, class. English and French have many common vocabulary roots. They may twist your tongue but you'll get used to it eventually. And if you think pronouncing french is hard, just try Russian."

"Really, Madame Vernier?" asked Vlad, the only Russian kid in the class.

"Just teasing you, Vladimir." replied Vernier, earning laughs from the entire class.

*Beeeep

The bell sounded, signifying the end of the school day.

 _Finally..._ , thought William, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, class. Don't forget to study for next Tuesday's vocabulary quiz!" announced Vernier.

"No homework?" asked a boy.

"Nope!" she answered with a smile.

"Oh yeah!"

"Alright!"

The entire class began celebrating, high fiving each other.

"Have a good weekend, everyone! Au revoir!" smiled Vernier.

"Au revoir, Madame Vernier!" replied the class in unison.

The entire class started to pack up their bags, eager to rush out of the classroom. Fortunately, it was a Friday so many already began discussing plans for the weekend. A group of girls planned to have a girls night out while a group of boys planned to go camping in a nearby forest reservation. William had no such plans and simply wanted to go home. But he also wasn't in a rush and shoved his books into his backpack rather slowly. Soon, he was the last person left in the classroom. He finally stood up and picked up his backpack before walking towards the door. Before he walked out, however, he was interrupted by a voice.

"William, can I have a word for a moment?" asked Vernier.

He gave a loud sigh before slowly turning around, "Yes, Miss Vernier?"

"William, in this class you say Madame." corrected Vernier, earning another eye roll from William. "Anyways, I'd like to address... What do you call it... Oh yes! The _Elephant_ in the room."

"And that is?"

"Don't play games with me, William. You know what I'm implying."

"Not really..."

Madame Vernier then gave a frustrated sigh, "William, you haven't turned in any of your homework assignments since the start of this class. Your grade is a 32/100 right now."

"Yeah, so?" replied William, uninterested.

"You can't keep going on like this, William. You're going to fail this class if you don't turn this around."

"You tell me this as if I care."

"Well you should, William. With the way you're handling your classes right now, you're setting yourself up for a very hard spot."

"Then that's my choice." retorted William nonchalantly.

Madame Vernier didn't know how respond to that and simply stared at William. Still, undeterred, she continued.

"So are we done here?" asked William, even more frustrated and impatient now.

"Look, William. I'd like to help you as much as I can but I'd also like you to visit your school counselor sometime. Clearly you need some help."

Offended, William immediately lashed out, "What makes you think I have a fucking problem?!"

The sudden raise in his voice startled Vernier, "William, watch your language!"

"And what do you care anyways? You just want good grades from your classes so you receive a good teacher evaluation! You might as well just hand out good grades to everyone for free!"

"William, please calm down!" pleaded Vernier as she raised her hands. "William, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. What I'm saying is that you can't be so negligent about school. Your performance here will reflect on you when you seek a living. And I care because it's my duty as a teacher to prepare you for a successful life."

This time, William had no response to Madame Vernier.

"I will give you two weeks to make up all of your overdue homework assignments. Your test and quiz grades haven't fared great either. But the makeup of these homework assignments should significantly fix your grade. And please see your counselor, William."

Having had enough, William turned around to walk out of the classroom.

"Have a good weekend, William." said Vernier, earning no response from him.

As Madame Vernier eyed him, a hologram in the form of a man in a toga appeared on her desk.

 _"Well that went pretty well..."_ said Leo, the teaching assistant AI.

"You're telling me..." replied a flustered Vernier.

 _"So what're you going to do about him, Anne?"_

"Ask Mr. Raymond in the Counseling Department if he's available. Tell him I'd like to meet him." ordered Vernier.

 _"Oui madame!"_ replied Leo, giving a mock salute.

* * *

The spaces of the corridors were so narrow that one could barely move through the crowd of students, especially during the morning and closing hours. What annoyed William was that these students continued to loiter in the corridors, only to obstruct movement for everyone. It was understandable during the morning, when students were waiting for their first classes. However, it really struck his nerve that everyone made things so much harder than necessary when they could've instead just gone home or brought their business outside. After pushing through hundreds of shoulders, William finally reached his locker.

 _Finally...,_ he thought to himself.

He entered his six-digit code on the keypad before pressing another single button.

*Bing

The locker made a quick mechanical sound before becoming unlocked. Opening the locker, William gave an exasperated sigh. There was a whole stack of textbooks reaching from the bottom all the way to his torso. He hasn't opened any of them since the start of the school year so dust began to form around them. What William couldn't fathom, however, was why there were textbooks in the first place, especially when virtually everything was digitalized in the 25th century. In the end though, it didn't matter. As demonstrated by the talk with Madame Vernier, he cared very little for school. Brushing off his thoughts, he grabbed his jacket before closing his locker. As he put on his jacket, he felt a sudden push from his back. Next thing he knew, his face was planted against the lockers.

"Ha, nice man!"

"What a sore loser..."

As he rubbed the numb pain on his forehead, William turned towards the direction of those whispers before seeing a gang of jocks walking past him. They were all dressed in their sports jackets, signifying their status in the school. One of them took a quick glance at William before holding up a middle finger at him.

"Stupid cunts..." muttered William before picking up his backpack.

One of the jocks then suddenly stopped before turning around to face William. Evidently William wasn't quiet enough with his insult.

"What the fuck did you say?!" asked the jock in a loud voice.

This prompted the rest of the jocks to stop and turn around as well. Now, William was facing the entire gang.

"What's up with him, Jake?" asked another jock as he walked over.

Seeing his face, William immediately recognized who he was: Zack Bradley, the captain of the Rugby team, also one of the biggest douchebags throughout the entire school.

"This motherfucker called us a bunch of cunts!" answered Jake.

"I didn't take you as a snitch, Jake." scoffed William.

"Shut the fuck up you bitchass faggot!" retorted Jake, his face fuming.

"What's the matter, daddy didn't love you?" smiled William, earning chuckles from others, including some of the jocks.

Jake clearly had anger issues because his face was already becoming red. Right before he could throw a punch, however, Zack raised a hand in front of him.

"Whoah, hold on there! I think William here is up for a little challenge! He's feeling a little cocky today, isn't he?" announced Zack as he looked around. By now the entire corridor was staring at the commotion. Some of them even had their phones out and began recording. "I think this little freshmen should be put in his place!" smiled Zack as he stared into William's eyes. "Unless he's too much of a pussy to put up with it."

"How about you tell me which one of your boyfriends here shoved me behind my back. _Unless he's too much of a pussy to put up with it_." retorted William, mockingly repeating the last sentence.

"You're all bark and no bite, freshmen. You and me, outside. Right now." threatened Zack.

"Is it gonna be dinner or movies?" smiled William sarcastically.

"You're a real piece of work..."

"If I'm a piece of work, imagine what Jakeypoo here is."

Jake gritted his teeth before raising his fist again, "Oh you fucker!"

"Get the fuck back, Jake!" ordered Zack, causing him to immediately defuse. He then turned back to face William, having played enough games. "You and me, outside now!"

Zack attempted to grab William by his collars but instead he was knocked back by a quick shove. It was so sudden that he almost fell were it not for his goons that caught him. William on the other hand just stirred up the hornet's nest. The other jocks readied themselves to jump him while Zack pushed away the ones that caught his fall.

"Don't you fucking touch me." warned William.

"Oh that's it you son of a bitch!" snarled Zack as he got into a fighting position.

"Put your hands on me and you will never play again." threatened William as he curled his fists.

The observing crowd became tense and nervously waited for the escalation.

"STOP!" cried out a voice.

Everyone turned around to see the approaching school monitor, Mr. Ramirez, along with his two student volunteers.

"Mr. Bradley and Mr. Erickson! You're coming to the office right now!" ordered Mr. Ramirez.

"What?!" cried out Jake.

"You heard me! Let's go, both of you!"

"No, Mr. Ramirez! You got it all wrong! I was only defending myself!" Zack attempted to lie.

Fortunately, the school monitor was not fooled.

"Since you don't remember, smile, you're on camera!" retorted Mr. Ramirez, pointing at the security cameras on the ceiling.

"Fuck you..." growled Zack as he glared back at William, earning a shrug from him.

Mr. Ramirez then turned to Jake, "You too, Mr. Erickson! I'm not asking again!"

"This is your fucking fault!" cried out Jake as he charged towards William. Fortunately, he was immediately tackled by a student volunteer. "Ah! Let go of me you fag!" struggled Jake as he was being restrained.

"Everyone else, go home! It's well past closing time!" ordered Mr. Ramirez. Before preparing to restrain Zack, he noticed some students still recording their phones and gritted his teeth. "Put your damn phones away!"

The students immediately shoved away their phones before scurrying away from the scene. Soon, the corridor was emptied of the everybody, including the jocks, who walked away reluctantly. Meanwhile, Zack and Jake were restrained with their hands behind their backs, with Mr. Ramirez ready to take them to the office.

"Alright, you two! Let's get moving! And Amos?"

"Yes, Mr. Ramirez?" replied Amos, the other student volunteer.

"You stay with him." ordered Mr. Ramirez as he gestured towards William.

"Yes, sir!" complied Amos.

Finally, both Zack and Jake were taken away, disappearing at the end of the corridor.

"Hey, man. You okay?" asked Amos, trying to comfort William.

"I'm fine." replied William as he began to walk away.

"Are you sure, dude? If you need any help-"

"I'm fine, dude, really. I wanna go home." retorted William, annoyed.

"Alright, dude. Stay safe!" said Amos as he waived.

By now, the school building was mostly empty. As he finally reached the main entrance, he opened the doors before stepping out. As he walked through the school courtyard, some of the students stopped what they were doing upon seeing William and stared at him. There was no doubt the incident already spread throughout the school by gossip. Annoyed by the stares, he walked faster towards the bus stop while avoiding eye contact with anyone. He just wanted to get the hell out of here. At the same time, he sincerely hoped this news wouldn't follow him home.

 _As if the day couldn't get any worse..._

* * *

 **Location: _Perry Residence_**

 **POV: Staff Sergeant (Ret.) Wesley Perry**

 _"-and the direction he's going does not look very good, Mr. Perry. If he fails all of his courses, he will be pushed back and required to repeat the entire 9th year. At worst, he may even be expelled for academic negligence!"_ explained Mr. Raymond.

"I understand, Mr. Raymond." replied Wes, giving out a sigh.

 _"The school is committed to help him in any way we can, sir. However, I think it'd be helpful if you also try talk to him and find out what's going on."_ suggested Mr. Raymond.

Wes chuckled at his remark. He really had no idea, "Oh trust me, Mr. Raymond. You don't know the half of it."

 _"Have you ever considered homeschooling him? It's not to insinuate that you should, but should all options fail..."_

"Yes, but frankly, I don't think it'll make much of a difference."

 _"Well would you like us to set up a time to meet next week? So we can discuss this more in detail? It'll just be the two of us."_

"Sure, that works. I'll be free on Wednesday."

 _"That'll do, sir. Okay, I will have to go now but it was nice talking to you, Mr. Perry. I hope everything's okay with William."_

Wes rolled his eyes before answering, "Clearly he's not, but thank you."

 _"Have a good evening, Mr. Perry."_

"Likewise, Mr. Raymond. Goodbye." finished Wes before hanging up.

Putting the phone down, he frustratingly shook his head.

 _What am I going to do with you, William..._

This was the third call from the school this year, albeit from a different teacher. Wes knew since the beginning that school wasn't a strong suit for William. But he still tried his best to at least make him do the bare minimum, such as submitting his assignments. But that turned out to be futile when William instead began lying about doing his homework. Furthermore, every time Wes confronted him about it, it would end in a shouting match. At this point, William's school performance was so mediocre that higher education was out of the window. Though university certainly wasn't necessary to gain employment, it was hard to find a descent job in this economy unless one joined the military. Fortunately, this was only his first year of secondary school so William still had plenty of time for improvement. Still, knowing William, Wes knew it was going to be an uphill battle.

*Beep Beep

The locks of the front door deactivated before sliding open. As he turned around, he saw none other than William walking in.

 _Speak of the Devil..._

"Hey, William." greeted Wes.

William merely grunted in reply before closing the door behind.

Observing his face, Wes could clearly tell that he had a long day. For now, Wes decided to put aside his frustrations; He would bring up the phone call later. He was also exhausted from the long week.

"So, how was school?" asked Wes.

"Fine..." answered William, quietly.

"Anything interesting happen?"

William only gave a light chuckle as he took off his backpack.

"What?" asked Wes, raising his eyebrows.

"Nothing, just a scuffle..."

Wes' eyes widened before raising his voice, "What scuffle?"

Realizing he made a mistake, William quickly brushed it off while walking away, "Don't worry about it."

"Hold up there, young man!" ordered Wes.

"What?!"

"Did you get in another fight?"

William stayed quiet before slowly turning around.

"The other guy started it. Don't worry, I'm not in any trouble. The cameras recorded everything." explained William.

Wes gritted his teeth. He could handle mediocre school performance. But he had zero tolerance for physical fights. It wasn't that he believed people shouldn't defend themselves when assaulted; He did. However, this was one of the dozens, if not hundreds of brawls William got involved in, which often resulted in many detentions and a few suspensions for him. He's already been expelled once during middle school. Someday William was going to end up in jail if he continued his violent habits or worse, get killed. Wes would be damned to allow that.

"William, this is the tenth fight you've had this year! What's the matter with you?!" scolded Wes.

"As if you didn't have fights when you were younger!" retorted William.

"That doesn't excuse you, William! And for the record, I didn't!"

"That asshole shoved me first! I only defended myself! You weren't even there yet you always assume how everything turned out! Are you omnipotent?!"

Not wanting this to escalate into shouting match again, Wes took a deep breath before replying calmly, "William, all I'm saying is that you need to stop getting yourself in these situations."

"So you're saying I shouldn't even stand up for myself?!" shouted William.

"No, William, not at all. But maybe you should stop instigating so much conflict."

"I didn't start anything!"

"But you seem so eager to get on with it! Regardless, if you keep doing this, someday you're going to run into someone who's much stronger than you are and you won't make it out so easy. This isn't some movie, William. There are dangerous people out there!"

William simply rolled his eyes before turning around. "Oh whatever, for fucks sake..." growled William before kicking down a stool. As he disappeared down the hallway, there was a loud door slam, followed by a series of profanities.

On the other hand, Wes simply stood there, dumbstruck of what just happened. He then closed his eyes before taking another deep breath.

"Lord, please help me guide this child through these tumultuous times..." recited Wes quietly before giving out a sigh.

As difficult as it was dealing with William, Wes had to accept who he was and especially the circumstances he came from. Losing his parents at such a young age was already difficult enough. But the horrible events in New Florencia were things no child should ever have gone through. There was no doubt that all of these experiences traumatized him greatly and shaped him into the person he was today. Despite doing everything within his power to help William through his struggles, Wes knew the damages were already too great to ever fully heal. The scars would forever remain and no amount of therapy and counseling could rectify that. It sincerely broke his heart knowing that William would have to continue living with such torment. He could simply look at his eyes and see the chronic pain and misery. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't even remember the last time William ever genuinely smiled... Furthermore, William was now reaching his adolescence and the prospect of it was nerve-wrecking for Wes. He continued to pray everyday, hoping God would aid him through the struggles. But as the years went by, his doubts only grew. Wes knew raising a child by himself was going to be a rough journey but he never thought it would turn out this way. Perhaps it was his fault for being so naive about his expectations. Regardless, however, there was absolutely no way in hell Wes was going to give up on William. Ever since that fateful day, he made an oath to both himself and to God that he would care and provide for this child. Wes was going to uphold that oath no matter what.

* * *

 ***Flashback 7 Years Earlier**

 **Date: March 7, 2477**

 **Location:**

 ** _CMA NAGOYA_ _Base  
_** **New Florencia,** **V-II System**

"Who're we waiting for?" asked William.

"We're waiting for the General." answered Wes.

"The good guy?"

"Yes, William, the good guy." smiled Wes.

Meanwhile, Wes was still feeling nervous about the fate that awaited him. He hoped General Rainier had enough leverage to belay whatever Major Mustafa had planned for him. General officers certainly had a lot of power and influence in the military but they were not invincible. Regardless, there was nothing he could personally do except to wait. In the meantime, both Wes and William stood at a courtyard in front of the base command building.

After what felt like an eternity, General Rainier finally appeared out of the front door of the command building. Feeling nervous, Wes walked towards the General and gave a salute, "General."

"Corporal." greeted back the General.

Wes tried to remain calm, despite shaking from nervousness, "H-how did it go, sir?"

"Relax, Corporal. You're off the hook." assured Rainier with a smile.

The bluntness of the General's answer caught Wes off guard. His eyes soon widened upon digesting what he just heard.

"Sir?"

"I had to pull some strings for the Major to ultimately agree with closing your case. But I will tell you this, Corporal. Consider yourself extremely lucky because technically, the Major was right. By the books, you should be getting disciplinary actions for breaking protocol. Were it not for me, you would not be so fortunate right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad with what you've done. However, know that others may not be as tolerant as I am. So don't push your luck and try to stay out of trouble. You dodged a very big bullet today, Corporal."

Wes once again swallowed nervously before thanking, "Th-thank you, General."

"You're welcome." smiled Rainier. "So, what happens now, Corporal?"

"Well I'm stuck with babysitting the kid until the op's over. It's the Major's orders, sir." shrugged Wes.

"That's actually fair." smiled Rainier. "Then what about after the op? You're gonna file him up for adoption? Because as much as it pains me to say this, we can't raise him here."

Wes frowned upon hearing the particular word from the General. There were already too many orphans as a result of the many colonial-wide insurrections. Filing for adoption was futile since colonial child services were not only ineffective, but also already overburdened from the conflicts and most orphans ended up homeless anyways. At the same time, the General was right. The military certainly couldn't keep William.

"I'm not exactly sure, sir. Adoption doesn't sound appealing because who knows where he'll be sent off to..."

"I agree, many of them end up in the streets anyways, only to be recruited by the same bastards we protect them from..." agreed Rainier as he crossed his arms. "However, he's safe here for now. In the meantime, you have plenty of time to figure it out."

Wes simply nodded in agreement.

"Well then, I best get going now, Corporal." informed Rainier as he checked his smart watch. "This was certainly an extraordinary but enjoyable experience."

Wes then stood at attention before giving a final salute, "General."

Rainier returned the salute before patting Wes' shoulder, "You're a good man, Corporal. Take good care of him."

"Thank you so much, General." thanked Wes, smiling in gratitude.

"You're welcome, Corporal. And make sure to thank the two sergeants as well. They sure as hell helped with twisting the Major's arm." grinned Rainier.

"Will do, sir." chuckled Wes.

The General then turned towards William before giving him a smile, "You're a lucky kid, William. Treat him nicely."

Receiving a quiet nod from William, the General gave one last nod to Wes before turning around and heading back to the command building.

Wes couldn't believe it. During his two years in the Marines, he has never felt as lucky as he did now. Not even the time he narrowly dodged a rocket compared to this. To Wes, Brigadier General Rainier was an angel sent by God. He would not have been surprised if he really was. The Bible stated that angels could appear in human form if need be. Regardless, this was a lot of weight off his back. However, there was still one glaring issue that remained: William. The General was right. Sending him away for adoption only defeated the purpose. But what other option was there? It wasn't like he could take the kid in. Wes prided himself in being great with children but he had no parenting experience whatsoever. Being a single guy didn't help either.

He looked down to see William holding his arms tightly with both hands. As Wes came to think of it, he's been doing a fairly good job acting as William's guardian. Furthermore, William was already getting attached to him pretty quickly, as was Wes towards him. In a weird way, he already felt like a father to William, or at the very least an older brother. Now that he thought about it, maybe taking him in wasn't such a bad idea. Because if not him, who else?

 ***Flashback Over**

* * *

 **POV: William**

Taking off his backpack, William dumped out everything in it on the floor before throwing it against the wall. He released a growl before channeling his anger out by kicking a chair away. He was now ventilating so heavily that he tried calming down by regulating his breathing. He then collapsed on his bed before covering his face with a pillow. That was enough temper for one day.

Wes really got into his nerves, although William was sure the feeling was mutual for Wes. His helicopter parenting style used to be much more severe when he was younger, though it was understandable since he was a single guy raising William all by himself. But like all kids, it became harder for Wes to keep William under control the older he got. He already reached the stage in life where he naturally rebelled against authority. Though for William, he had a special place in his heart for being defiant and great disdain for conformity. As Billy Joel once said, he did not take shit from anybody. He could careless no matter how many times he received detentions or got ratted out by Wes. If someone swings a fist at William, they should know better that he would swing back even harder, like the time when William was punched in the face by a bully, who ended up being hospitalized after William retaliated by throwing a rock at his jaw. This did result in William's expulsion from his school and Wes grounding him for a couple months. But William was still satisfied with the outcome, knowing he was able to enact his vengeance. The school zero tolerance policy could screw itself for all he cared.

With his anger mostly defused now, he stood back up and began looking around his room. The long-awaited weekend was here so now he could finally relax and sleep in. But he did not want to stay indoors and be a couch potato. When William was stressed out like he was currently, he really needed to leave the house and cool off. Plus, he also did not want to deal with more of Wes' reprimanding so that was more reason to get out. As he looked out his window, he could already see the sun setting, as well as the city's night lights activating.

 _I guess I could use a walk right now..._

Getting out of his bed, he grabbed his phone and backpack before proceeding to open his room's window. He could very well simply walk out the front door. However, doing so would notify the house's smart system, which would in turn notify Wes. Plus, he liked making elaborate escapes. It gave him the thrills. With the windows opened, William lunged over before grabbing on to the rails. After closing the windows from outside, he let go of the rails and made a soft landing on the grass. His room was only on the second floor so the fall was manageable. He then checked if the coast was clear, just in case Wes was outside working on the yard. With no one in sight, he quickly jumped over the fence before jogging towards the direction of the city.

* * *

 **Location:** ** _Emerald City Blue Harbor_**

The one thing that made Emerald City such a great place to live in was its convenience and laid-back atmosphere. Sure, it dwarfed in comparison to huge megacities like New Alexandria in Reach. Nor did it have a culturally rich history like many cities of Humanity's homeworld. However, it didn't need to because Emerald City had its own great perks. Unlike most cities, it was not congested at all. In fact, there were so many open spaces that the city itself could be considered a park. Public transportation was free and vehicles, except for public ones, were not allowed within the city's limits so that made moving around very easy. It was also exceptionally clean compared to other cities on Chi Rho. Its location along the coast was also perfect as it provided a great scenery during sunsets. Indeed these qualities weren't unique to Emerald City, but it was special in its own right.

As he rested on top of a yacht's bridge, William set down the rolling paper before unzipping a plastic bag. He took a deep inhale of its contents, enjoying the aroma. If there was another perk of this city, it was its lax attitude towards substance use. This included the _Blue Weed_ , which was a popular plant for recreational use. It was still moderately regulated, but it was legal nonetheless, unlike many other places. William proceeded to take out a teaspoon of Blue Weed before setting it on top of the rolling paper. After spreading it out evenly, he gently rolled up the paper before patching up a joint for himself. Before lighting it up, he took another smell of the joint itself.

"Ah, perfect..." muttered William, satisfied.

He then sparked his lighter and proceeded to ignite the joint. With its tip finally glowing in ember, William took a deep inhale, holding the smoke within his lungs. As he exhaled, he was immediately filled with ecstasy. Unlike traditional drugs like tobacco or cannabis, blue weed had a much more potent effect. While tobacco and cannabis originated from Earth, blue weed was discovered on a distant planet dozens of light years away from the core worlds. Despite various governments attempting to contain its usage, its discovery only sparked a huge wave of blackmarket trade for extraterrestrial substances. In the case of blue weed, it was cheap and easy to grow so any efforts to outlaw it were futile, at least within the colonies. However, this did not stop many politicians and anti-drug activist groups from promoting their stances against what they considered _"_ _alien drugs"_. Furthermore, any substance use was still forbidden on school property and students were subjected to random searches and drug tests. Lastly, if Wes ever found out about William's usage of drugs, he would go absolutely nuts. If Wes was already that strict towards his constant fights, William couldn't even imagine how he would react towards him smoking blue weed. Therefore, William knew better to always have a pack of refreshing gums to at least clean up his breath after every session.

After taking a few puffs, William finally reached his high point. The Blue Harbor and the city skyline already provided a beautiful scenery on their own. However, viewing them under the blue weed was a whole another experience. The weed combined the port's underwater lights, the city skyline and the milky way's immensely bright starlight and manifest them into a crazy light show, one which could not be described in words nor expressed in physical imagery. It was as if William was in an entirely different plane of existence. If only there was some new age music in the background, it would be better than any artistic show he has ever witnessed in his lifetime.

After finishing his joint, the exciting light show period finally subsided but the weed's effects still remained. Instead, he was now in a stage he called the _Cruising Speed_. It was a period of complete relaxation and zero stress. His mind was completely unrestrained at the moment, free of any worry or fear. In many ways, it was was similar to lucid dreaming, except he was completely awake. This was perfect for those who wanted to explore existential questions or those who simply wanted to mentally escape the real world. William, however, did it for both. For him, the entire existence of everything was a comedy of errors. At the very least, the blue weed allowed him to momentarily forget about everything. As nihilistic as it was, life in the grand scheme was meaningless for him. Human life especially was a monotonous cycle that perpetually repeated itself: When a human was born, he then went to school until his early twenties before working in a boring job until retirement while also getting married and having children, who only grew up to repeat the same cycle. Furthermore, all of this had virtually no impact on anything at all. The universe would continue to go on regardless of what humanity did; Nothing mattered at the end. This was something he always told himself ever since he lost both of his parents. Yes, it was a tragedy that he couldn't grow up without them. Yes, those memories would forever remain within him, especially the dreadful day when he watched a bullet being put through his father. However, that was the past and there was nothing he could do about it. Shit happened to everyone's life and all anyone could do was simply move on. As pessimistic as it also was, this was life. In the meantime, however, if life truly was as inconsequential as William believed, he figured that he might just as well be completely hedonistic and do whatever the hell he wanted. He certainly had no plans on living a boring normal life like most people did. School and family life could screw itself for all he cared.

As William stared into the stars, he was reminded of a particular TV show from his childhood called _Space Cowboys_ , which was a program about a group of misfits who drifted throughout space, made money by doing odd jobs while also fighting space pirates and alien fleets. Ever since he finished watching all the episodes, William knew the setting of _Space Cowboys_ was the life he wanted to live. He loved Emerald City but he hoped to someday escape this rock and live life on his own terms. Like the show, William wished to eventually have his own starship and go on to discover the frontiers, while also smoking as much blue weed as he wanted. There would be no rules and no obligations, just unlimited freedom. However, that time would have to wait. He was still legally under the custody of Wes and required to attend school until the age of seventeen. When he reached that age, he had plans to immediately leave the house and get started on his life, whether he graduated school or not. Until then, William was still stuck here. In the meantime, however, he was going to enjoy the beautiful scenery while indulging himself in more blue weed.

"Time for another light show." he smiled to himself as readied to make another joint.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I realize this chapter might've been boring since it's nothing but drama. But rest assured, there will a lot of action coming soon. Until then, I'd like you to be patient for now.**

 **Please review! Thank you!**


	4. Smooth Criminal

**Date: December 15, 2484**

 **Location: _Emerald City Gold Coast_**

 **POV: Sergeant Wesley Perry, Emerald City Police Department**

Being an uneventful small town, Emerald City was relatively safe and peaceful. But perhaps the city was a bit too eventful. Violent crimes were rare and the most dangerous situation Wes ever responded to was an illegal racing event outside the city. He knew he really shouldn't be complaining though. The job pay was decent, location was exceptional and it was certainly better than a desk job. Furthermore, it was quite relaxing and stress-free compared to his hometown of Las Vegas back on Earth. Still, sometimes he secretly wished for something to happen instead of having another mundane shift. He could use an exciting day to rile up his adrenaline. Regardless, he wouldn't have picked any other place to work at. With all the beautiful forests, beaches and a year-round tropical climate, it was a great place to be a cop.

"So, got any plans for the weekend, Perry?" asked Gary, his shift partner.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he focussed on the road before replying. "Nope."

"Well the fellas and I are going bowling tomorrow. Wanna join in?"

"No can do, I got things to do." dismissed Wes.

"On a Saturday? Like what?"

"House work."

"Is it because of the kid again?" guessed Gary with an amused smile. "I gotta admit though, it must be hard raising a teen as a single parent. But what I don't understand is why you make it so hard on yourself. I mean, he's not even your kid! I get that you found him on a war zone but that doesn't mean you have to go as far as adopting him."

Wes heard the same reasoning hundreds of times and every time he explained his position, it always fell on deaf ears. At this point, he didn't even bother replying anymore. He did the right thing and that was all that mattered.

"Well would you look at all these yachts..." commented Gary as he looked at the window. "Man, I'd love to get one of those when I retire..."

Gary did have a point. As Wes observed those yachts, they certainly looked quite luxurious. It was thrilling to imagine living and sailing in a boat, never having to return to land. Too bad these yachts costed a fortune, however.

"You're gonna spend all of your retirement savings for one?" smiled Wes.

"Screw you, man! Don't ruin the moment!" Gary smirked back, giving a playful punch.

"I'm not wrong, am I?"

"You assume that I plan on working in this department forever, Perry."

"Oh really? Then where are you gonna get the money? Selling drugs?" questioned Wes, raising an eyebrow before smirking. "If so, I'd have to arrest you right now."

"Detaining someone before they even commit a crime? That's straight out of _M_ _inority Report_." grinned Gary.

"Well, with so much advancement in computing power today, who's to say that doesn't become a reality?"

"Deep stuff, Perry. But in all seriousness though, I'm actually planning on starting a business."

Wes burst out laughing. This man couldn't even properly manage his finances, especially with all the money he frequently borrowed. Furthermore, where was he going start a business in Emerald City, or even on this world? Chi Rho as a whole was more of a small and laid back community compared to busy financial hubs like Reach.

"What's so funny?" asked Gary as he glared at Wes.

"You running a business? Wow..." chuckled Wes.

"You didn't even let me finish!"

"Alright, I'm sorry! What glorious products do you plan on advertising with your entrepreneurial spirit?"

Before Gary could begin, the police radio suddenly came online.

 _"All units in Sector 3, we have reports of a Code 46 in the Pier area. Suspects consist of juveniles, three males and one female. All are potentially armed, over."_

"Dispatch, this is Echo-13. We're heading over there now." radioed Wes.

 _"Copy Echo-13, maintain Code Green."_ responded the radio.

"Wilco." answered Wes before pressing a few buttons on the console. "Save it for later, Gary. We got work to do."

"Finally, it's showtime!" smiled Gary as he readied himself.

Wes switched the controls to manual before grasping the steering wheel. With the police cruiser completely under his control, he floored the accelerator before swiftly bypassing the other cars. It appeared that the day wasn't going to be so mundane after all.

* * *

 **POV: William**

Approaching the pier, William could see his clients waiting by their speed boat. As agreed upon, everyone from both parties wore masks and gloves to conceal their identities, both from each other and potential third parties like cops. Checking the boat's markings, William concluded they were the right people. Cautiously, he continued forward.

"Come on, man! Don't be shy!" said the girl in the group.

"You must be, _VAT20_?" another man asked by William's alias.

"Yes, I am." answered William.

"Haha! Such a weird name..." the man chuckled before extending his hands. "I'm Kato, it's nice to finally meet you in person."

"No can do, I don't want any traces on my hands." declined William.

Kato simply shrugged. "Fair enough... Anyways, you have the package? Also, were you followed?"

"Yes and no." replied William before he threw forward the crash bag. "And you got my cash?"

"Hold up, we're gonna check your end of the bargain first." insisted Kato before gesturing the girl. "Izzy, check the bag."

"Got it." complied Izzy and unzipped the crash bag. Inside it were packs of blue weed and acid, all worth a couple hundred credits. Izzy proceeded to take out a pack of blue weed and gave it a sniff before putting it back in. "He checks out, bro."

A faint smile outlined behind Kato's mask. "Well done, we knew we could trust you."

 _Then why did you have to check my bag..._ , thought William, rolling his eyes.

Kato finally returned the favor by throwing forward his own bag. "854 credits, all in cash. Just like you asked."

Unzipping the bag, William could see it stuffed with 20 and 10 Credit bills. He couldn't wait to unpack them when he got home. He then quickly zipped it back up before stuffing the bag in his own backpack.

"What's the rush, dude?" asked Kato, folding his arms.

"You guys should get out quickly. There's cop patrols out here." warned William.

"Oh please, who even bothers to check this part of the city?" dismissed Kato.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya..." said William as he stood up. "Pleasure doing business as usual. I'll contact you again when there's more in stock."

"Likewise, mister." nodded Kato.

"What the hell is that?" interrupted Izzy.

Everyone turned towards the direction she was pointed at and approaching in the distance was a car. As William eyed it closely, he saw the letters very clearly: _ECPD_. The police cruiser then made a sharp turn before quickly closing in towards the pier.

"Shit, it's the cops!" yelled Izzy as she frantically grabbed her belongings.

"I told you so!" replied William as he prepared to make a run.

Before William took a step, however, his ears caught caught a gun being loaded. He then slowly turned to see Kato, who was pointing a pistol at him.

"You hold it right there!" warned Kato. "You set us up you little prick!"

"Do I look like an undercover to you?!" retorted William.

"Oh yeah? Then what's with the coincidence?!"

"I tried to warn you, dumbass!"

"Whatever! You're staying right there while we get away!" grinned Kato as he slowly walked backwards.

The police cruiser came to a screeching halt and two police officers quickly stepped out. William slowly turned around and upon seeing one officer's face, a chill went down his spine. That officer was Wes.

 _WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!_

Out of all people, here he was in his uniform and badges. William knew Wes was a cop but never in a million years did he think he would stumble upon him like this. Fortunately, his mask was doing its job to keep him anonymous. Keeping calm, William didn't utter a single word.

"What's going on here, gentlemen?" asked the other officer as he walked forward. Upon seeing Kato's weapon, however, the officers immediately unholstered their pistols before taking cover behind their cruiser. "Drop your weapon!" yelled the officer.

"Fuck off, coppers!" swore Kato before firing off shots.

As Wes and the other officer took cover, William sprinted off to the side before jumping to a nearby yacht. Kato then turned his gun towards him and fired. Fortunately, all of his shots missed and William quickly disappeared into the yacht.

"Fuck!" cursed Kato, realizing he was out of ammunition.

Suddenly, Wes broke cover and fired his taser at Kato, electrocuting his body with thousands of volts. Kato began twitching viciously before collapsing to the ground.

"No, Kato!" screamed Izzy and began firing her submachine gun.

As the shooting ensued, William, meanwhile, hid on the other starboard of the yacht began fastening his backpack to his body. He then looked up to observe the layout of all the piers. Fortunately, the piers were completely compacted with boats, which were also close enough to each other to make jumps across. It was time for William to put his parkour skills to the test. As he positioned himself, he took a deep breath. Ready, he lunged forward before making a leap to the next yacht.

 **POV: Sergeant Wesley Perry**

"Code 88! We have shots fired on our position! Requesting back up, over!" radioed Gary as bullets ricocheted off the cruiser.

Meanwhile, Wes continued exerting suppressing fire on the female suspect. Unlike the male, she was armed with an automatic weapon and their pistols were no match for its firepower. They needed to reach the trunk for their shotgun.

"Damn! Pesky little girl!" cursed Gary before firing off his own shots.

"I'll go get the shotgun in the back!" said Wes before crawling back.

"No! I'll go get the shotgun and deal with her! You go after the other guy! He's getting away!"

Wes looked over the pier and saw the other male suspect jumping swiftly over multiple boats.

"What the hell are you waiting for?! Go get him!" snapped Gary.

"Alright! Got it!" complied Wes.

"Hold on, I'll provide suppressing fire!" As soon as the female suspect stopped shooting, Gary cocked his pistol with a new mag before raising it. "Go!" signaled Gary and rapidly fired at the suspect.

Wes sprinted as hard as he could and jumped over to the nearby yacht. He barely landed on the edge of its starboard and quickly hid behind cover. He then reloaded his pistol and taser before looking up to see the other suspect, who appeared to get farther away. Having no time to think, Wes immediately got up and proceeded to chase after him.

After jumping over a couple boats, Wes was finally catching up to the suspect, though he was beginning to tire out. Whoever he was, he was damn good at parkour. The way he effortlessly leaped over each boat showed he's done this before. However, the suspect also showed signs of fatigue. Confident that he had him, Wes stopped on the next boat and grabbed his taser before aiming it on the suspect.

"Stop right there!" he warned.

The suspect did not comply. Getting him on his sights, Wes pulled the trigger, sending off the taser round. For a moment, he thought the round hit home. Instead, the suspect miraculously dodged it with a quick duck before jumping and disappearing into nowhere. Wes simply stood there, in awe. He snapped out of it and then continued to give chase. As he reached the spot the suspect disappeared, he was absolutely nowhere to be found. Wes looked around and there were fewer boats docked in this side of the pier. There was no way he could've continued his run. Wes then looked down to check if he was underwater. If the suspect jumped into the water, Wes would've heard a splash. Yet, there was nothing and the waters were crystal calm. The man just vanished like a ghost! Wes tried double checking the surroundings but there was still nothing. With the situation futile, he decided to call quits.

"Damn it!" cursed Wes, punching the air. He could only hope that the surveillance drones caught him, if there were any out here.

 _"Wes, come in, over!"_ sounded the radio.

"I read you!" radioed Wes.

 _"I got the two suspects in custody, including the female! What about you? Did you get the other guy?"_

"He got away!" Wes answered, exasperated.

 _"What? How?!"_

"It doesn't matter! I'll come to you right now!"

Meanwhile, Wes' knees were killing him from all the jumping and landing. The chase was all for nothing and now he had to go back doing it all over again. This wasn't the type of exciting day he hoped for and he cursed himself for wishing for it.

* * *

 **POV: William**

Almost two minutes passed and William was beginning to run out of his breath. He needed to come back up to the surface for air. He'd rather get caught and live than drown. Hoping Wes was gone by now, William slowly ascended back up, careful not to release any bubbles. The moment he reached the surface, he breathed quietly through his nostrils instead of immediately gasping for air, ensuring he made as little noise as possible. Replenished with oxygen, he gently paddled away to check the other side of the boat. Peaking around the boat's stern, he could see Wes already jumping his way back. Safe at last, he released a sigh of relief.

It was a close call for him. As if being threatened at gun point wasn't enough, Wes just had to show up at the wrong time. If he got caught, that would've been the end of everything for William. Furthermore, Kato backstabbing him immediately only revealed who he really was. Who knew what else Kato had planned for him behind his back? However, that was the risk of dealing within the blackmarket. One had to always be cautious to never trust people too easily. Still, William couldn't help but chuckle since he had the last laugh. He came out alive with the cash and now he had one less dirty client to deal with.

Realizing he was still in water, William brushed off his congratulatory thoughts and began swimming away to the shore. After that stunt, there were bound to be more police units showing up. He needed to get home soon before Wes did to avoid any suspicions. To keep a low profile, William paddled gently and kept his head down.

* * *

 **Date: December 17, 2484**

 **Location: _Lyon Secondary School_**

It was finally lunch break. William swore he'd go insane if he stayed just a minute longer in his math class. There were still three more classes left for the day but the lunch break allowed him to at least recharge from the mental exhaustion. He could really use a smoke at the moment but unfortunately, it was still school.

Sitting on one of the benches, William continued eating his lunch while observing the school field. As always, he could see the student body divided into their distinct groups. Closer to the school building were the normal kids, nerds and other eccentrics. They were likely where they were because the school monitors were nearby to protect them from bullying. Though that rarely helped since the school monitors rarely paid attention. More out in the field were the popular kids, such as the jocks and the rich kids. They always seemed to be doing their own things, acting super cliquey. Preferring solitude, William always kept a distance from other people and ate alone. Though he felt lonely occasionally, being a frequent target of bullying himself, it was a better trade-off.

As he continued to observe the crowd, William noticed someone walking out of the school building. Squinting his eyes, he could see it was Adrianna, a sophomore. William hated to admit it, but he did have a little crush on her. It was problematic because being vulnerable with his feelings was something he felt too awkward about. He tried pushing those feelings away but that proved difficult since she always caught his interest whenever he saw her. Therefore, he did his best to avoid her. Yet, here she was in plain view. William didn't know exactly why he was interested in her. She certainly wasn't the hottest girl in school but she was still pretty cute. Maybe it was her confidence. Like him, she didn't take shit from anyone, which was something he could definitely relate to. Or perhaps, it was because she was the only person in the entire school that was genuinely nice to him. Then again, she was nice to everyone. Still, unlike most people, whom he had derogatory interactions with, Adrianna was the only one who went out of her way to have friendly small-talk with William whenever they stumbled upon each other. She was one of the rare individuals that radiated with overwhelming positivity. Perhaps William could learn something from her. Nevertheless, he continued to observe her, safely admiring her from a distance.

His solace was suddenly interrupted when someone appeared to abruptly stop Adrianna in her tracks. A trio of boys began surrounding Adrianna and one of them suddenly attempted to grab her hand, who she reflexively pushed away. What followed was Adrianna yelling back at the boys while they continued their sly gestures. As she attempted to bypass them, they blocked her path again. Soon, the boys began getting even more touchy with her and Adrianna was visibly distraught. Meanwhile, the surrounding people simply stood by and watched or paid no attention.

William couldn't believe what he was seeing. How could people just do nothing and let this happen? Where the hell were the school monitors? As he turned towards the school building, he saw the school monitors simply conversing among themselves, not paying any attention to what was going on. William shook his head and gritted his teeth.

 _This is what you're paid for?!_

Suddenly, one of them slapped Adrianna's butt, causing her to scream and swing her fist at him, but to no avail. That did it for William. He immediately stood up and jumped down from the bench before running towards the scene. The field was quite a distance to reach but in this case, his adrenaline rush ensured that he sprinted as fast as he could. Things were about to get ugly so William prepared for the worst.

"Hey assholes! Quit it!" called out William.

Before the trio turned to see who it was, William tackled one of them away, followed by quickly pushing away the remaining two. This attracted even more attention, yet the crowd stupidly continued to watch like deer in headlights. Upon seeing William's face, some people rolled their eyes, knowing what was about to unfold. Getting a glimpse of the tackled jock's face, it turned out to be none other than the ill-tempered Jake Erickson.

"Gah! What the fuck is your problem?!" snarled Jake as he stood back up. Seeing William's face, Jake's expression immediately filled with rage. "You!? Oh that's it, you're dead!"

The other two jocks cracked their knuckles and prepared to jump William. William, on the other hand, was more concerned with Adrianna and turned his attention towards her.

"Hey, you okay?" asked William.

Before Adrianna could open her mouth, her eyes widened in shock and attempted to grab William.

"WATCH OUT!" warned Adrianna and tried to push him away.

Too late, William was quickly tackled to the ground by Jake, who began rapidly pounding him with his fists.

"Not so tough now, are ya, fag?!" grinned Jake as he continued sending down his fists.

Meanwhile, some students fled the scene, not wanting to be any part of it. For those that remained, they gathered in a large crowd around the spot before taking out their phones and chanting/cheering on.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

William tried his best to block with his arms. But with Jake being on the rugby team and weighing much more, he had a lot of muscles powering in his punches. Still, William held his own and absorbed the strikes. Suddenly, Jake's punching stopped when someone put him in a chokehold. As he struggled, he began losing focus on William and tried escaping from the hold. On the other hand, William's arms were too sore from the constant blunt force and he struggled to get up. As he looked up, he saw Adrianna clinging onto Jake's back and putting him on a choke hold. Suddenly, she was grabbed by the other jocks, who tried to pull her off of Jake. Still, she persisted and continued holding onto Jake's neck.

Meanwhile, William finally stood up, shaking off the pain on his arms. Eventually, Adrianna was pulled off of Jake and dragged away with her screaming. The sight of it enraged William even more. However, he'd deal with it later since Jake stood in his way. Though released from the chokehold, Jake continued coughing heavily. With an opportunity at hand, William wasted no time waiting for him to recover. Right as Jake looked up, he immediately lunged forward and struck his face.

*Crack!

"Ohhhhhhh!" cried the crowd, shocked by what they just witnessed.

"Holy Shit! Did you guys see that?!"

Plummeting to the ground, Jake yowled in agony. Hearing the noticeable crack, William realized he may have broken his nose. In fact, William punched him so hard that his hand hurt even more than his arms. Regardless, he didn't stop and jumped on top of Jake before raising his other fist.

"My turn, bitch!" he muttered and began rapidly punching Jake's face.

Jake tried his best to block William's fists but the pain from his nose was overwhelming. Soon, purple bruises began to appear around his eyes and Jake was beginning to lose his senses. Before William delivered another punch, however, he felt a sudden shove from behind before having his face planted on the ground. The tables immediately turned as William was viciously kicked to the ground by the other jocks. To protect his face, William rolled over face-down and curled up. The kicks were so rapid that William had no choice but to stay in his position.

"Get off of him you meatheads!" yelled out someone.

The jocks ceased their kicks and looked up to see a group of half a dozen boys rushing towards them. The boys then hurled themselves at the jocks like rag dolls before piling on top of them. The jocks tried their best to hold off the group but they were outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed to the ground.

As William opened his eyes, he saw the random boys mercilessly pounding the jocks into submission. William couldn't fathom why these guys decided to come to his aid like this. If anything, they were putting themselves in unnecessary trouble. Nevertheless, he accepted their help and slowly stood back up, spitting out the dirt in his mouth. Battered and bruised, his entire body ached. The moment was interrupted once again, however, when another group appeared to join in the carnage. Approaching from the opposite side were a group of about two dozen jocks. They were running in loose formation, making them resemble soldiers charging into the enemy. William swore he could see half of the entire rugby team in the group. This was going to turn into a bloodbath and he had to get the hell out of here before things spiraled out of control. A hand suddenly grasped William's shoulder. Startled, he spun around and grabbed the person before raising his fist. In front was a petrified Adrianna, who's face William nearly got smashed. Relieved, William let out a sigh before releasing her.

"Come on! Let's get out of here!" motioned Adrianna, to which William simply nodded.

Before they took a step, however, Adrianna yelped as a hand suddenly groped her hair. Another hand quickly struck her face, causing her to limp towards the ground. The attacker then grabbed William before striking his face as well. Although fazed, William still held his ground and continued standing on his feet. In front was a bloodied Jake, who was on the verge of going berserk.

"You're not going anywhere you little shit-stain!" snarled Jake.

William simply rolled his eyes and raised his fists.

"You want more, fuck-face? A broken jaw, maybe?" he taunted while wiping blood off his face.

Jake let out a roar of rage before lunging towards William with a fist. This time, however, William was prepared. He swiftly dodged Jake's fist before striking his ribs, causing him to wail. He then struck Jake's jaws before pushing him away. Undeterred, Jake regained his composure and charged forward. Over a hundred kilograms of muscles slammed into William, rocking him to the core. What followed was a grapple by Jake, which prevented William from moving his arms.

"Is that all you got, faggot?!" grinned Jake.

The grapple was squeezing the air out of William and his vision was beginning to black out. Desperate, William leaned closer to Jake's face instead of trying to escape his hold.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" asked Jake, confused.

William leaned towards Jake's ear and gave it the hardest bite he could.

"RAAAAAHH!"

Jake gave out a deafening shriek and began trembling, causing William's ears to ring. Still, William continued to exert his bite on the ear, crushing the ossicles within. Having had enough, Jake released his grip on William while still having his ear held by his jaws. Jake then began viciously battering William's abdomen, causing him to relent and release his bite. Jake, who's rage now reached the boiling point, continued to rapidly pound William until he plummeted to the ground.

Having no energy to continue, William lied on the ground, constantly wheezing in pain. His vision was shaking and his senses were getting wobbly. Still, he attempted to retain his focus and looked up to see his surroundings. By now, dozens of people were brawling with each other on the field and more people kept joining in. Although the jocks had better physique, they continued to be swarmed and increasingly outnumbered. William couldn't believe this was all his doing. What started as a scuffle against bullies now turned into a full-blown battle. Regardless of how this would turn out, William was sure about one thing. A lot of people were going to get suspended today, including himself. Then again, he didn't care about that part. Frankly, he was enjoying this until just a moment ago.

William focussed back on Jake, still twitching in pain. The torn piece of Jake's ear kept dangling around and he tried his best to hold it together with a hand. William was both frightened and joyed by Jake's wrathful face. He was frightened because he was now completely vulnerable against Jake's rampage. But he was also joyed since he inflicted more pain on him that he dreamed of. In the end, it was all worth it.

"I'm going to kill you." Jake snarled coldly.

He strugglingly picked up a rock and slowly marched over to William. Realizing what was coming, all feelings of joy immediately evaporated. Jake finally raised the rock, ready to strike. William gulped back his saliva before squeezing his eyes closed.

*Boom!

*Boom!

Everyone froze when flares suddenly exploded over the field. Next, the alarms activated, causing many brawling students to disperse and run away. However, many also did not care and resumed their brawls amid the smoke.

Jake, unmoved as well, continued to gaze upon William and prepared to hurl the rock.

"You picked the wrong guy to fu-!"

Jake's body suddenly began shaking uncontrollably. With his hands twitching, the rock fell from its grip before hitting his head. Jake then fell on his knees before collapsing forward, allowing William to see the taser rounds stuck on his back. As he looked around, he could see cops and school monitors approaching from the school building, trying to apprehend any stragglers on the field. With fatigue taking over, William set his head back on the ground and stared into the sky. He was already in trouble so he figured he could simply relax on the spot.

 _What a clusterfuck..._

* * *

 **Location: _Perry Residence_**

As William sat on the couch, Wes continued conversing with the police officer at the front door. He could tell they knew each other from their mannerisms. However, Wes appeared to be pleading to the officer, who continued to either shrug or shake his head. William guessed that Wes was probably attempting to mitigate whatever punishment being planned for him. He wasn't worried, however. If William actually received something severe as going to prison, he'd already be there by now. Instead, after being apprehended at the school, he was immediately escorted to the office before being taken back home by the police, though he had his hands cuffed the whole time. Others like Jake on the other hand, were not so lucky and did get taken to the police station. At most, William was probably going to get expelled. He didn't care either way. He figured it would be great if he got homeschooled.

"Thanks, Hank. I appreciate everything." thanked Wes, extending his hands.

"No problem, bud. I'll let you know when something pops up." replied the officer as he shook his hands.

"See ya around." bid Wes before closing the front door.

With the business finished, William stood up from the couch.

"You stay right there, young man!" interrupted Wes.

"What?! You already know everything!" retorted William.

"Sit down!" Wes raised his voice.

Rolling his eyes, William relented and collapsed back to the couch. Wes then walked over to the other side of the coffee table before sitting down as well. Silence ensued. While Wes continued giving a glare, William refused to even look at him and kept his head down.

"Look at me." spoke up Wes.

"Why should I?" retorted William.

"You zip it! The adult is talking here! Now look at me!"

William gave a loud sigh before raising his head up. Seeing Wes' expression, he was taken aback by what he saw. For all the years he's lived with Wes, he always knew him as a patient and cool-headed guy, despite exasperating him to the core. Now, he was fuming. It appeared William finally pushed him to his limits.

"I don't get you, William." started Wes. "What the hell am I going to do with you? As time passes, you're just asking for more and more trouble. All of this has become such a regular habit that everyday, I pray that I don't get another call from the school! At this point I don't even know what the future holds for you anymore!"

Meanwhile, William didn't respond and remained silent.

"What do you want, William? What are you trying to prove? Are you trying to earn respect by showing off your prowess? You think people will respect you if you beat them to death? You think you're tough, William? Well newsflash! You're not! If you don't believe me, look how your behavior is making people view you!"

"Funny you mention respect! I remember you telling me that a respectable man always stands up for himself and for others who can't for themselves, no matter what it takes! Now here I am, getting berated by you for doing exactly that!"

"Standing up for others does not mean inciting violence! You instigated the scene, knowing it would lead to a racket!"

"You think I want to fight people 24/7?! You think I choose to get shit on by these people?! You have no idea about all the harassment and abuse I've been suffering from for all these years! And what have you done about it?! Nothing! Instead, you nag about useless shit like grades and throw ME under the bus when I do receive shit! You don't care about anything going on in my life! As a matter of fact, you don't know me! AGAIN, YOU DON'T FUCKING KNOW ME!"

After digesting everything he just heard, Wes gave out a scoff.

"I get it. So you think I'm a bad parent?"

"You never were a parent! As a matter of fact, you're not even my father! What the hell do YOU even care about me anyways?! Why the hell am I even here?!"

Suddenly, tears began to form in William's eyes but he quickly attempted to wipe them away. Meanwhile, Wes remained still, speechless. Soon, William couldn't hold back the tears and kept his head down, sniffing and letting the tears to drop. He then quickly stood up and turned to walk away.

"You're right." interrupted Wes, halting William. "I'm not your father. Yes, I could've done a much better job in raising you. But I do care about you and you'd be damn wrong if you were to believe otherwise. Since that night I found you on that street, I swore to God and myself that I'd never give up on you no matter what. I could've very well left you there to die and continue on with an easy life. But I saw a child in need. And despite all the difficulties along the way, I have no regrets because in the end, I'm glad to see you living right now. And don't worry, you won't be staying here for long. Soon, you'll grow up like everyone else and you're free to leave and shut me out of your life. But as long as you're under my roof, I will fulfill my promise."

There was a pause, until William gave a final retort and walked off. "So it's all about you trying to convince God how much of a good person you are, isn't it? Well, forget it because you haven't done a good job at that either! You might've as well just left me there... It would've been easier on both of us..."

Dazed from his response, Wes had no words and remained frozen on his seat.

* * *

 **Location: _Evergreen Beaches_**

Sparking his lighter, William torched the little pieces of paper surrounding the firewood. Next, he spilled some oil into the wood pile, causing it to engulf in flames. With the fire finally made, William stood up to observe his camp. The tent was already set up and a small flagpole was placed next to it, signifying that he was licensed to camp in public areas. Next, William checked the ice box, which had enough food to supply him for the whole week. His mouth watered as he couldn't wait to grill the sausages he brought. Everything was in place and he felt proud.

Sitting down on the log bench, William lit a cannabis joint before taking a puff. After selling off all of the blue weed two days ago, cannabis was all he had at the moment. Still, it was better than nothing. As he watched the sunset, William took a moment to reflect on the day. Of all the times he's bumped heads with Wes, this one took the cake. Perhaps it was because Wes for once forced William to confront the things he wanted to avoid. Though Wes still drove him crazy, William had to admit that he was right about thing: The future was uncertain for him. Indeed William still had his ultimate aspirations of traveling the galaxy with his own ship. However, with all the trouble he kept running into, he feared there was a good chance he'd end up in a hard place, only to regret it later. Furthermore, would it really have been better if Wes left William where he found him? He certainly wouldn't be living in this peaceful town if that were the case. He would've most likely been killed or taken prisoner to become a child soldier for those rebels. Looking back, William was never appreciative of anything Wes did for him. Maybe he really was too harsh and selfish towards him.

Fortunately for now, William was free from school until January. Not only was he suspended from school for the remainder of the year, but winter break was also coming up, which extended all the way until early January. It was strange to feel happy about what was supposed to be punishment. But for William, anything that kept him away from school was acceptable. Furthermore, he wasn't going to jail at the end of the day.

The sun finally set and the sky was beginning to darken. The lack of light pollution made the milky way galaxy even more clear than it appeared from the harbor. William really wished he had some blue weed at the moment, eager to know what crazy light show he could experience here. But he figured he could enjoy the stars in a sober state as well. Regardless, William was very much looking forward to relaxing on the beach for a whole week.

"Never thought I'd find you here." said a voice behind.

Startled, William fell back from his seat, getting sand all over his back.

"Damn it!" groaned William.

He then quickly stood back up and shook off the sand before looking for the source of the voice. Standing to his left was none other than Adrianna, dressed in her V-neck shirt and shorts, and trying really hard to hold her laughter.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" she smiled nervously.

William, also nervous from her presence, froze up before opening his mouth. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I like walking by here occasionally. But then I saw you and decided to stalk you."

William continued to stare at Adrianna with a flustered expression, causing her to finally snort with laughter.

"I'm kidding, William!" snickered Adrianna before taking a breath. "Anyways, what about you? You crashing in here or what?"

"I'm um... uh... I just want to camp around here for a couple days."

Adrianna raised her eyebrows. "A couple days? What about school?"

"Fuck school." William answered bluntly, causing her to giggle. "Plus, I'm suspended for the rest of the year anyways..."

"Wait, what? But why?!"

William simply gave a sarcastic smile. "Apparently I used excessive force when I didn't need to. Plus I also instigated the _battle_."

"Well that's bullshit! You were defending me! I made that very clear to the principal!"

"Schools are pretty retarded when they handle bullying..." muttered William, staring back at the fire.

"Touché." agreed Adrianna. "Though in hindsight, things did escalate pretty hard... But damn, I'm sorry about that, William."

"No worries, I'm actually enjoying this. If it were up to me, I wouldn't go to school at all." assured William, to which she simply nodded.

"Do you mind if I join in, by the way?" Adrianna asked nervously. Startled again, William twitched before freezing up. "Hey William? You okay?"

Snapping out of it, he shook his head before facing her.

"Uh... Yeah, please! Sit!" assured William and shifted to the side.

"Thanks." smiled Adrianna before walking over to him. "What's that you're smoking?" she asked as she sat down.

"Oh this?" asked William as he grabbed his joint out of his mouth. "It's just cannabis."

"May I?"

"I have another joint if you want." offered William as he took it out.

"Yeah, sure!" accepted Adrianna and grabbed the joint before putting it in her mouth. William then sparked his lighter and lit the tip. "Thanks." she smiled and took a puff.

"No problem." welcomed William.

"How are you right now?" asked Adrianna, concerned.

"Fine I guess..."

"Are you seriously injured though? You seemed to take quite a beating from Jake. But I don't see any patches on you."

William simply snorted in amusement. "Don't fret it. My arms and my right hand are quite sore but it's nothing bad. But what about you? You were knocked out by that asshole."

"I'm fine too, I was only out for a minute. Actually, his punch was surprisingly weak." Adrianna assured with a grin.

"You sure? No concussions?"

"Don't worry, I'm okay now."

Though still skeptical, he relented. "Alright, suit yourself..."

"As for you, William, you really are a fool hardy bastard, you know that? I mean, what the hell were you thinking? Rushing into Jake like that? He's one of the best rugby players on the team! No offense but he could've handed your ass to you with his weight alone! "

"Except I broke his nose." countered William. "And I certainly gave him a fight to remember."

Adrianna snickered at the last remark. "Getting cocky right now, mister?"

"I also bit his ear off." he added.

This time, it was Adrianna's turn to get startled. She simply stared back at William, her eyes widened and jaws open.

"Relax, he still has it on him. My teeth just tore through it and now he has a huge cut." assured William. Still, Adrianna didn't seem eased.

"Wow..." she replied before suddenly smiling. "That's awesome! Nice job!"

"...I wasn't sure if you'd take that well." William seemed surprised.

"Oh please! That asshole deserves it for all I care! Same for the rest of his meathead friends!"

"Agreed." smiled William before exhaling smoke from his lungs.

"Though remind me not to mess with you. I mean, biting his ear?! I'm not sure if I would do that!"

"Trust me, it was not enjoyable, especially when I tasted all of his sweat and dandruff." William gave a disgusted look before smirking. "But he was squeezing the air out of me so I might as well go dirty on him."

"That sounds pretty sexual, William. You holding any kinky fantasies within your mind?" snickered Adrianna before coughing out the smoke.

"Never in a million years, Adrianna!" William gave a nauseating look, causing her to succumb to full-on laughter and coughing even more.

"Sure, William..." teased Adrianna before slowing down her coughing. "But on a serious note, I appreciate what you did for me today." Suddenly she put her arm around William before looking into his eyes. "Thank you."

The sudden touchiness from Adrianna caused William to go stiff from nervousness. He tried not to show it and remained focussed on the conversation. Then again, this was Adrianna holding him.

"Well a lot more should've been done by others. Instead, they just sat on their fat asses!" William gave begrudging remark. "People only joined in when MY ass was getting kicked!"

"Hey, it's all over, okay?" Adrianna assured.

William paused for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Okay... And you're welcome." he smiled.

"Plus, Jake actually got expelled and he's going to juvie, along with four other rugby players. I guess we had the last laugh, didn't we?" she grinned.

William gave an incredulous look. "Really?! The school gains so much fame and money from the rugby team! How could they let go of their best players like that? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to hear this but they usually try cutting corners for their precious athletes. I'm surprised the school took action this time!"

"Well one can only go so far. He did grab my ass after all!" frowned Adrianna.

"Yeah, that asshole totally had it coming." agreed William.

Adrianna took a huge puff before giving a nod. "Ditto, dude. It's one less scumbag to deal with. Though I really do hope that he ends up in a better place."

"You're not actually feeling sorry for him, are you?" questioned William.

"No... But as you know, he does have an unusually violent temper. It probably helped him a bit as a rugby player. But it also put a lot of other people in danger, like you and me. Don't get me wrong, whatever's wrong in his head doesn't excuse him for what he did. But does need help and hopefully the juvie has therapists to fix him..." Adrianna explained.

William couldn't fathom how Adrianna viewed the situation so empathetically. If it were up to him, he'd have Jake beaten a couple times before having him thrown into prison. It may have sounded morally questionable, but the bad blood between William and Jake clouded him with overwhelming anger and he was sure Jake probably felt the same. Still, he commended Adrianna for being objective and level-headed. To that, William simply nodded.

"He's gone. That's all I care."

"Yup." she agreed.

By now, both reached their high stages and continued staring into the stars in silence. All traces of sunlight were now gone and the sky only consisted of the milky way galaxy. Once again, William couldn't believe how remarkable the scenery was. Adrianna also appeared to be preoccupied by it. Suddenly, William realized that Adrianna still had her arms around his shoulder. In fact, she was leaning on him now. Yet, the relaxing effects from his joint made him not feel nervous at all. His mind and body were completely calm at the moment. He turned his head slightly to see Adrianna's face, who seemed just as relaxed.

"Hey, if you don't mind, can I ask a personal question?" asked Adrianna, breaking the silence.

"Go ahead, shoot." accepted William, shaking off his thoughts.

"I'm not saying you're the only one like this. But I'm curious why you appear so cold and distant all the time. No offense, by the way. It's just something I've observed ever since I've known you."

"You've been observing me?" William winced at her.

"Yeah, I've been stalking you the entire time!" Adrianna grinned mischievously.

"A-are you serious?" stuttered William, incredulous.

"Oh my god, you're killing me with that face! Stop it, William!" snorted Adrianna before succumbing to laughter once more.

"You approached me out of the blue! At this time of the night for that matter!" pointed out William.

Adrianna slowed down her breathing before finally relaxing. "No, I'm not a stalker. But to be honest, I do keep an eye on you sometimes." she admitted coyly.

"And why am I so worthy of your attention, Adrianna?" teased back William.

Adrianna then began nervously playing with her hair. "Well... As quiet as you are, there's some sense of mystery around you. And girls drool over that."

"So I'm mysterious..." William raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, you're just different, okay? Not from other boys but from people in general. And I find that interesting. Plus, you are kinda cute, I guess..." she smiled nervously.

"Uh... Thanks, I guess?" William gave a weak smile. Meanwhile, his cheeks were beginning redden.

"But seriously though, do you ever talk to anyone? You're bound to have someone to converse with, even if it's not at school." questioned Adrianna.

"I don't have time for needless drama, which there's enough of in our school." William brushed it off.

"Okay, fine. But don't you have any friends? Anyone to connect to? Seems awfully lonely, you know."

"Look, I'm not comfortable with sharing anything for now. And frankly, I'm fine with the way things are. What does it matter anyways? We're not staying in this wretched school forever."

Taken aback, Adrianna backed down. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude on anything. I just want to know if you're okay. Is that too much for you?"

Seeing her tense expression, William gave a sigh before putting his hand her shoulder. "Sorry, not trying be a jerkass. It's just sensitive stuff..."

"It's alright, William. No pressure." smiled Adrianna. "I'm just interested in getting to know you better. Plus, I'm here for you and it's the least I can do after what you did today."

"So you're no longer stalking me?" William gave a sly look.

"Oh shut up..." Adrianna gave a friendly punch.

"I appreciate it, though. Thanks." William gave a light smile, to which Adrianna put gave a thumbs up.

*Ring!

"What's that?" asked William, looking for where the it came from.

Adrianna released her hold on William and quickly took out her phone, checking the screen.

"Oh damn it, it's my mom! Sorry I gotta run!" she said before standing up. "This was some good weed, by the way. I'm feeling great!" Adrianna smiled before throwing her joint into the campfire.

"You sure you can walk back home?"

"Oh please, I'm not that high right now!" Adrianna smirked.

"Huh, maybe I should bring the blue weed next time..." pondered William.

"Listen... I'm going to see the light show at the Emerald Stadium this Saturday. Would you be interested in coming along?" Adrianna asked anxiously.

 _Is she asking me out?_ , thought William.

This time, not even the weed could keep him calm. William's heart rate spiked upon hearing what she just said. Still he didn't even think about it and immediately accepted.

"Yeah, sure! I'd be happy to!"

"Great! I'll give you the details about it later! See ya!" Adrianna beamed and waved her hand.

"See ya later!" returned William.

However, as she turned around, Adrianna didn't take a step and instead, remained on the spot.

"Something wrong?" asked William, giving a concerning look.

Adrianna then took a deep breath and walked back over to William.

"Hey, wha-"

Before William could finish, Adrianna leaned in and gave a quick peck to his cheek.

"Good night, William." smiled Adrianna and finally walked off.

Meanwhile, the stunned William remained frozen like a statue. His lower jaw slowly began to drop, causing his joint to fall off from his mouth.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the minor action scenes, especially when the story has been nothing but drama. If you feel lackluster from it, I don't blame you. I found it somewhat boring to write this chapter as well. However, I do want to develop and provide a background for the characters before moving on to the main plot. Fortunately, this will be the second to last chapter of Act 1. Afterwards, we can finally move on and I'm excited to show what's next to come!**

 **Please review! Thank you!**


	5. La Haine

**Date: January 9, 2485**

 **Location: _Lyon Secondary School_**

Literature... Just hearing that word made him cringe. William could understand why math and science were necessary courses. One had to know how calculate numbers when filing taxes after all. However, he couldn't fathom why kids were forced to read 17th century literature. What use would it have anyways? He knew how to read just fine and was going to forget the material anyways. But according to the teacher's insistence, apparently life wasn't just about concrete things. It was no surprise that his lowest grade was in literature class. In fact, William wasn't even sure if he was going to pass...

"William!" called out a voice.

William looked up to see Ms. Greenwall glaring at him with her arms crossed. The entire class also turned their heads to William, putting him on the spot.

"If you weren't daydreaming, could you please tell the class what the three witches prophesied to Macbeth?"

He froze and had absolutely no idea. "Um..."

"I thought so!" Ms. Greenwall shook her head. "In that case, as detention, you can write the answer on the writing board a hundred times after school! Understood?!"

William didn't say a word and nodded in silence.

"Next page!" she yelled out to class before turning back to her datapad.

 _What a bitch..._

The entire class snickered quietly from what just occurred, whispering and mumbling comments at him.

"Gosh, he's such a loser..."

"That dumbass will probably never graduate high school."

"Does this guy have ADHD?"

Though William tried his best to remain stoic, inside, hearing those comments was absolute torture. As someone once said, sticks and stones can break bones but words can hurt forever. Though William prided himself in being thick-skinned, truthfully, it felt like an emotional stab being labeled by his peers as a _stupid and retarded delinquent_. Every time William got humiliated in class, he just wanted to run out of class and hide in the bathroom. At one time in 7th grade, he did exactly that, where he balled his eyes out until the teacher found him. It was another reason why school was a bane for William. Regardless, he kept his head high and at least pretended to pay attention.

* * *

 ***school courtyard**

As usual, William sat alone on the benches, eating his lunch in silence. He still felt utterly humiliated from his literature class. He sincerely wanted to punch Ms. Greenwall in the face for putting him on the spot like that. She was the perfect example of a _cackling bitch_. He may have screwed up but no student deserved to be degraded like that in front of others. Then again, she was one of the most disliked teachers in the entire school. Just to spite her, William already decided to not show up to her so-called detention. At this point, he was only inches away from getting expelled and could careless how things turned out. Eventually, he was not only going to leave this school, but also leave this planet and never look back. No one in this school, be it the teachers or the students, was to decide who he was going to be.

Suddenly, someone placed their hands around William's eyes.

"Guess who!" said a voice.

Startled, William jerked from his seat. The person released his eyes before sitting down next to him, revealing herself as Adrianna.

"Crap, you scared me!"

"What up, Willy!" Adrianna greeted as well and sat down next to him.

"Don't ever do that again... Also, did you just call me _Willy_?" William raised an eye.

"Why, do you not like it?" Adrianna paused, worried.

"No, it's just, I've had someone call me that before..."

"Well, first time for everything, right?" Adrianna grinned in relief.

"Yeah, I guess so..." he smiled back.

Meanwhile, William was mesmerized by her appearance as aways.

God, _she's so pretty..._ , he thought, his eyes ogling at her. Her tight jeans and jacket certainly made her curves a bit revealing. But it was her face that really captured him, especially those sparkling eyes and her killer smile.

"Anyways... How's your day been?" Adriana asked as she began unpacking her own lunch.

"It's fine, I guess..." muttered William, looking away.

"That doesn't sound fine, William." Adrianna pointed out immediately.

"Why do you think that?" He looked back at her.

"I don't think. I know. Your tone is a dead give away, William." Adrianna continued pushing.

 _That wretched girl..._ , William cursed internally. They haven't even talked to each other that long, yet Adrianna always managed to see right through his BS.

"William, aren't we friends now?"

"Yeah..."

"And friends look out for each other. So please, tell me. What's happening?"

William took a sigh before answering. "I got detention today..."

"How? Haven't you had enough punishment already?" Adrianna smiled amusingly.

"Well, I wasn't paying attention and failed to answer a question about Hamlet. Now I have to write the answer a hundred times on the writing board after school..." William explained, exasperated.

"Oh... Well, do you want me to help you with the material?" she offered.

"Don't even bother..." he immediately declined, staring down.

"Why?"

"I'm probably never gonna graduate anyways. If anything, I'm only wasting time here and I should just drop out..."

Adrianna simply stood there, speechless from what she just heard. William could see her just staring at him as he looked up to her.

"What?" he asked.

"What's gotten into you, William?" Adrianna shook her head.

"What are you saying?" retorted William.

"Never graduating? I can understand having bad grades but that's no reason to drop out! Plus, you can't just give up free education so easily!" Adrianna argued.

"This crappy institution isn't education! It's just a conveyor belt for producing mindless drones!"

"Okay, you could argue that. But how's dropping a better alternative? I mean, what's your plan when you do call quits?"

"For one, getting off this damn planet..."

"Why, what's wrong with Emerald City?"

"Nothing. There's just nothing here for me. I'd be fine with working as a deckhand at a merchant ship before buying my way out. I've always wanted to live in space anyways..."

"Have you been watching Space Cowboys lately?" Adrianna chuckled.

"Wait, you watch that show too?"

"I used to watch it when I was little, though I don't think it airs anymore. But listening to what you just said, I knew it was vaguely familiar..."

"Hey, it's a good show! Space Cowboys is a masterpiece!"

"Can't disagree with you there." Adrianna smiled before pivoting back to the main conversation. "But anyways, as I was saying, I have no problem with what you want to do. At the same time, there's no need to rush things, William. No offense but you're still too young and you could still learn something from school. And even if you don't, getting the diploma will still be useful. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure that even grunt work on ship requires one nowadays. So you might as well power through it and finish."

William instead gave a pessimistic sigh. "Honestly, Adrianna, I'm not sure if I can even handle another three years of school... If I'm already this much bad-"

Adrianna suddenly put her hand over William's before looking into his eyes. "And I will help you, William. I'll tutor you to help improve your grades and if you want, you can join the sailing club that I'm president in. I'm sure everyone there will welcome you, especially after what you did to Jake last month. As for the jocks, most of them are graduating this year and they'll be long gone. So what do you say, Willy?"

William then gave her a suspicious look. "In the beginning of the school year, we never talked. Now, you seem extremely committed to help me out. Is it because of what I did? I appreciate you reciprocating but I feel like you're overcompensating."

"It's not just because of that day. There's more..." Adrianna suddenly twirled her hair. "You see, I... I like you..."

William could see her cheeks were beginning to turn red. Still, she maintained eye contact with him.

"Is that also because of that day?" He gave a sheepish smile.

"Well... That was the icing on the cake, I'll admit that. But remember during that sunset when I admitted to _observing_ you?"

"Yeah." William nodded.

"I was already pretty interested in you since the beginning and actually wanted to ask you out for the homecoming dance. But I was afraid to approach you since you always appeared so cold and distant..."

William couldn't believe his ears. After all these months, here she was, admitting that she held the exact same feelings towards him the entire time. Though what she said in the end made sense. How could he have possibly known when he always behaved like a jerk? And it only resulted in so much lost opportunity. As much as William wanted to beat himself over this, he was still very happy to hear this. It was better knowing late than never.

"Plus, I thought my kiss made it pretty clear." Adrianna pointed out coyly.

"Weren't you just being friendly?" He replied slyly.

"Seriously? Wow, you ass..." She gave a playful punch.

"I was kidding!" William raised his hands, to which Adrianna rolled her eyes.

"Dude, I understand that guys can be oblivious with signs but how could I be more direct than that? Seriously, men..."

"Well, maybe women should stop playing games with us." countered William.

"Acknowledged." smiled Adrianna.

"Why didn't you just tell me when you showed up at the beach?"

"Honestly, it felt rushed, especially after such drastic events. Also, I really wasn't sure if you would feel the same..."

William gulped in nervousness, unsure if he should tell her his thoughts as well. But both already came this far and he could see the anticipation in Adrianna's eyes as well. He then took a deep breath before putting his other hand over her's.

"Lucky for you, I feel the same as well. In fact, I've been also _observing_ you for a while. Every day during lunchtime, when you walk out of the building, I always watch you from the benches here. And like you, I was also afraid to approach you..."

Adrianna stood still with her mouth open, not knowing what to say.

"In fact, I wasn't even sure if I stood a-"

Before he could finish, Adrianna leaned in and locked her lips with his. She then clasped his cheeks, continuing to savor the moment. It was no french kiss but she was just as passionate about it. It was only a couple seconds before she pulled back, having the most dreamy look on her face. On the other hand, William remained frozen in shock, to which Adrianna gave a nervous cough.

"I... I'm sorry, was that too quick?"

William immediately snapped out of it before shaking his head. "No! No! It's fine! It felt really good... Thank you."

"Good... I swear, I was about to regret it after the look on your face." Adrianna sighed in relief.

"I hope nobody saw that though..." said William as he looked around. The school was very strict when it came to PDA. Plus, he didn't want any drama going around the school either. Fortunately, nobody seemed to be looking at his direction. In fact, not many people were outside like there were usually. It was most likely that the incident with Jake scared people into staying indoors, where they could be more closely watched by the school monitors.

"Who cares? Let them enjoy a little drama!" Adrianna grinned and wrapped her arms around him. "Hey, um... What do you say we head back to my place after school? My parents aren't home this weekend. Plus, it's a Friday after all."

William's heart rate instantly jumped. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked, now sweating.

"Really, William? Haha!" Adrianna burst out laughing before shaking her head. "I like you, William, but not on _that_ level. Plus, we're both underaged!"

"You'd be surprised on how many people don't care about that these days..." William shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't worry, I meant just a regular hang out." Adrianna clarified, still shaking from laughter.

"Okay, then what exactly do you wanna do at your place?" asked William, curious.

"Well, my house has a movie theatre and a video game room. I also have a bunch of BB guns to shoot up the house, plus many other options. So what do you say? You up for it?"

"Oh hell yeah! Definitely!" William smiled in excitement.

"I'm also gonna have some other people over as well, if you don't mind."

William's smile slowly faded upon hearing that. "Ummm..."

"Don't worry, they're friendly! You'll get along just fine! Plus, they're not from our school. They're my friends from out of town."

"Fine..." William relented.

Adrianna then suddenly leaned towards his ear. "On a serious note though, if we were sixteen, I'd definitely consider what you thought I was asking for." she whispered before winking.

"Pervert..." replied William, causing Adrianna to burst again in laughter.

Both were suddenly interrupted when a group of guys approached them. They quickly let each other go before facing back at them. They were all dressed in their rugby uniforms, led by none other than Zack, who had an amused smile on his face. The jocks were back.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't the _Beauty_ and the _Beast_!" Zack slowly clapped his hands. "So, you two bitches finally hooked up, huh? What's next, you gonna bone her in the ass, William?"

"What the hell do you want, Zack?" retorted Adrianna.

"Shut your mouth, slut!" spat back Zack.

"Don't you dare talk to her like that." warned William and stood up from his seat.

"Woah there! You already got him under your spells, Adrianna?" grinned Zack, earning laughs from his jock group. "Well you should've accepted Jake's offer when you had it! You fucking whore!"

William then stepped forward, putting himself inches in front of Zack. "Cut the fucking bullshit! What do you want?!"

"What the hell do you think we're here for?! There's a big fucking elephant in the room and it's you!" shouted Zack, earning stares from the people in the distance.

"If this is about Jake, then guess what? That prick deserved everything!" William crossed his arms.

"Like I said, you are a real piece of work..." Zack gave a sarcastic smile, shaking his head.

"So that's it? You're just here to rant how much of a pain in the ass I am? Well you're welcome, asshole!"

Zack suddenly grabbed William by his collars before pulling him in. "Listen, you piece of shit! I lost a fifth of my entire team because of you, including my best flankers! We were about to win the semifinals but you just had to fuck it all up, didn't you?!"

"Hey! Let go of him!" Adrianna stepped forward and attempted to pull Zack off of William.

"Get this bitch off of me!" ordered Zack and two jocks stepped forward.

Right before William threw a punch at Zack's face, both parties were suddenly interrupted by a voice.

"What's going on here?!"

Everyone turned towards the voice, only to see Mr. Ramirez approaching them. William felt a sense of relief, knowing the school monitor just stopped the scene from further escalation. Despite Zack threatening him, he did not feel like putting up with in another brawl.

"Mr. Bradley, I see that you're causing trouble, yet again!" Mr. Ramirez shook his head. "Let go of the young man and come wi-"

Meanwhile, William could see Zack's face quickly fuming with rage. Gritting his teeth, Zack released Willian before turning his attention to Mr. Ramirez.

"FUCK OFF!" roared Zack and immediately decked Mr. Ramirez in his face.

The school monitor laid motionless on the ground, KO'd in an instance. Zack continued to stare down his body, still clenching his fists. Cold silence ensued and even some jocks were shocked from what just occurred. Sensing what was coming, William and Adrianna grabbed each other's hands before slowly stepping backwards. He could feel her hand shaking in anxiety and grabbed it tightly. But in truth, he was just as scared. Last time, he barely survived against Jake and he did not want to find out what Zack could do.

* * *

 **Location: _Emerald City Police Department_**

 **POV: Wes**

Paper work and more paper work... That's all Wes has been doing since the shift started. He was mentally exhausted and his hand began to hurt from the constant typing. But that was the price he paid for procrastinating. It was already noon and he was still less than half way done. If Wes didn't complete everything by today, he'd be on garbage duty next week. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and continued typing.

"Poor Wes, he's getting tired already." Gary teased as he leaned on the cubicle wall.

"You wanna do the work for me, Gary?" Wes made a sarcastic offer.

"Hey man, it's not anyone's fault but yours for cramming everything until today." Gary shrugged his shoulders.

"Well you don't have kids..."

"Which is also completely voluntary on your part." grinned Gary, earning an eye roll from Wes. "But hey, after today, you'll be free at last from any paperwork for another six months."

Suddenly, the radio sounded off. _"All units in school zone 6, we have reports from Lyon Secondary School of a Code 53."_

Immediately, a patrol unit picked it up. _"Dispatch, this is Bravo-04, we're heading over now."_

"Hey, isn't Lyon where that kid of yours goes to?" pointed out Gary.

He was right. And hearing Code 53 made Wes feel even more uneasy. The same code was sent out from the school during William's _skirmish_ against his classmates. Whatever the hell it was this time, Wes hoped to God that it had nothing to do with William. However, he had this gut feeling that something was very wrong.

"Hey Wes, don't worry." Gary attempted to assuage Wes. "That school has a reputation for violent juveniles. And surely your kid isn't dumb enough to get caught in another scuffle, right? It's probably someone else."

"You'd be surprised, man..." replied Wes, still uneasy.

"Dude, it'll be fine. Just focus on you-."

The radio suddenly interrupted again. "Bravo-04, _the school staff are reporting that the school monitor was knocked out by a student. And be advised, cameras are showing the same students from the last school incident present on the scene. Take caution in case of another violent outbreak."_

 _"Copy, Dispatch. Bravo-04 out."_

That did it for Wes. All sense of hope was now thrown out the window.

"Oh no..." whispered Gary as he saw Wes standing up from his seat. "Wes! What are you doing?!"

"Stay out of my way!" Wes pushed away Gary before grabbing his keys and running towards the exit.

"Come back here, Wes!" yelled Gary and chased after him.

Gary tried his best to catch up on him. However, by the time he reached the parking lot, he saw Wes already speeding away on a police cruiser.

* * *

 **POV: William**

Before William and Adrianna could sneak away, Zack immediately turned around and blocked their way.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?!"

 _Shit..._

"You're next, bitch!" Zack cracked his knuckles before marching over.

"You realize you just earned yourself an expulsion?" William retorted, stepping back. "Have fun banging Jake in prison."

"You really don't know who you're messing with, do you?!" smiled Zack, suddenly stopping. "Unlike you, my dad has connections everywhere! No matter what happens, I'll get bailed out every time! That time you sent me to detention in the hallways? Guess what?! I got let off! But what about you, William? What does your worthless dad do?! Wait a minute... That's right!" Zack snapped his fingers while grinning. "HE'S DEAD!"

Both Adrianna and the jocks covered their mouths, appalled from his last remark. Even the jocks were taken aback from the brutal indecency.

"Shit dude, that's too far..."

"Not cool, man..."

William, on the other hand, froze on the spot from what he just heard.

"You don't think I looked up your ass on public records? Marked as a civilian casualty in New Florencia, huh? Haha! What a pathetic way to die! And you're not any better! Drug dealing in the black market? Really?! Don't even deny it, William! I know about your shady past!"

By now, all traces of fear evaporated from William. Zack's continued taunting only added more fuel to the fire. Unable to contain himself, his fists curled up and began shaking. At the same time, slight tears began forming on his eyes, much to Zack's amusement.

"What's the matter, Willy? You're gonna cry now?!" Zack burst into laughter.

"That's enough, Zack!" Adrianna interrupted and stepped forward.

"Fucking bitch!" Zack snarled before knocking her out with a punch.

"Hey!" William attempted to tackle Zack but he was swiftly kneed in his abdomen before kicked into the benches.

"Un-fucking-believable! The guy can't even protect his girl!"

Struck by a bench's corner edge, William put a hand over his forehead before hissing in pain. He then looked at his left hand to see it covered in blood.

"Come on, William! I punched your girlfriend! Now show me what you got!" Zack waved around his fists.

William slowly pushed himself off the benches before standing back up and facing Zack. Next to Zack was Adrianna, who was still knocked out on the ground with a bruise on her face. Wiping the blood off of his forehead, he formed his bloodied hands into fists before readying himself. Zack, on the other hand, appeared to be having the time of his life.

"I've been waiting a long time for this, freshman!" he grinned before raising his fists as well.

Without warning, William charged forward. Briefly catching Zack off guard, William tackled him before throwing rapid body shots. However, Zack quickly countered by elbowing his chest before uppercutting his skull. William shrieked in pain before staggering back. Unlike Jake, Zack was clearly a skilled fighter.

"Fucking pathetic..." Zack shook his head before grabbing William behind his neck.

Zack was not done as he dragged William to the benches before staring back at Adrianna's unconscious body.

"This is your fucking boyfriend, huh?!"

He then squeezed William's neck even harder and repeatedly slammed his face against the bench. Each strike further bloodied his face and some of the jocks refused to even watch what was transpiring. Unlike last time, this was not a fight. This was torture.

Zack then finally paused for a taunt. "Face it, you fucking loser! You're a failure in school, a failure in society and a failure in life! An absolute fucking failure, just like your parents! You should've been aborted!"

Meanwhile, as Zack continued his monologue, underneath the benches, William spotted something shiny within the grass. As he squinted his eyes, it appeared to be a large nail, most likely piece from the benches. As the nail was in his hand's reach, William hesitated for a moment until Zack leaned into his ears.

"You know, your parents would be ashamed of seeing how you turned out. Just look at yourself, some fourteen year old drug addict on the verge of failing school... You have no future so just do yourself a favor and kill yourself. Maybe you'll join them in hell..."

His eyes widened before clenching his jaws. That did it for William. Without second thoughts, he struck his elbow at Zack, hitting him on his crotch.

"Grrr, Fuck! hissed Zack before stumbling back.

William quickly grabbed the nail and stood up before glaring down on Zack, who was on the ground with his hands covering his crotch. "What the fuck, you dipshit?!" he cried out. However, upon seeing William raising a large nail, his expression went from being irate to horrified. "Wait, what're you doing?!"

William gave a roared from his lungs before diving into Zack.

"Stop him you idiots!" Zack called out desperately but it was too late.

What occurred next mortified the jocks when Zack let out a blood-curling scream. The nail landed on Zack's left eye and the gush mixed with blood began flowing out. William then pressed the nail harder before twisting it, causing Zack to scream and tremble even more violently.

"AHHHH! PLEASE, STO- RAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

As Zack lied helpless on the ground, he watched in horror as William continued his gaze on him, as if he was _Death_ himself. Meanwhile, William's mind was filled with nothing but unfiltered rage. Nothing else mattered except giving Zack the most agonizing pain possible.

It was only moments before he was kicked to the face and finally pinned down by the jocks. Despite having his body constantly kicked, William felt no pain. Instead, he gave a psychotic grin as he watched Zack's suffering in satisfaction.

"Everyone put your hands up!"

* * *

 **POV: Wes**

"All of you get back! Right now!" ordered Wes.

The students did not comply and continued to beat down whoever they were targeting. Wes and the other officers finally unleashed their taser fire, causing the group students to instantly collapse around their victim. The remaining ones who were unscathed looked up to see themselves surrounded and immediately sprinted off.

"Hey! Get back here!" yelled out a school monitor and chased after them.

"Gosh, these delinquents..." muttered an officer as he holstered his taser.

Soon, the incapacitated students began groaning and attempted to crawl their way out.

"Don't you dare move!" ordered Wes, still pointing his taser at them.

As the officers began restraining the students, Wes searched the scene for William. What he spotted next, however, made him drop his taser.

"Hey! We got someone in critical medical condition! Call an ambulance!" called out an officer.

Having no words for what he was seeing, Wes jaw dropped. On the ground was a bloody-faced William, along with another student, whose left eye was impaled by a nail and appeared to be in shock. The injured student continued whimpering in pain as the officers began assisting him. Meanwhile, William simply lied on the ground and gave him an exhausted look. Wes felt absolutely numb from what was happening and his hands began shaking shaking in disbelief.

"Perry! You alright?" asked an officer.

Panicking, he began desperately praying in his thoughts. But deep down he knew this was it for both of them.

* * *

 ***back at the police station**

"Please, just give me one chance, Captain!" Wes slammed his fists on the table.

"Sergeant, calm down!" roared back the Police Captain, to which Wes relented and crossed his arms. "Look, I get it! He's your son but it is what it is! He's clearly committed aggravated assault and there's no going around that!"

"In that case, at least Zachary Bradley should also be convicted of the same charge! If you look at the evidence, he clearly used the bench as a form of battery against William! Plus he knocked out the monitor!"

"Like I said, Mr. Bradley will be charged appropriately, just like William, who crossed the line by retaliating with unreasonable ways! Furthermore, this isn't the first time William's involved in such an incident! There are no more second chances for him!"

Wes sighed in frustration before pulling his hairs. Wes rapidly shook his head and slammed his fist in anger before standing up.

"Good day, Captain..." Wes growled and grabbed his jacket before heading for the the door.

"Sergeant, wait!"

As Wes stopped, the Captain stood up from his seat and walked over before putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Perry. I truly am. If it were my son, I'd be doing the same. At the same time, I hate to say this but you have to accept that he's unfit to function in regular society. You tried your best, that's all that matters."

"And sending him to prison will make things better for him?!" retorted Wes.

"He's not going to prison! He'll be housed in a juvenile correctional facility and the staff will take good care of him. Don't worry, Sergeant, he'll be in good hands."

Wes chuckled and began shaking his head. "You know, that's exactly what the school staff told me when I enrolled him in his current school. Look how that turned out..."

"Sergeant, as unfortunate as it is, some things are out of your control."

"Yes, but I still should've done better. And I bear full responsibility." Wes then put on his jacket before turning around to face the Captain. "Apologies for the attitude, sir."

"No need, Sergeant. You have my sympathy. I'll put you on paid leave for the entire week. Try to rest up while you're at it and don't worry, William will be fine. This may be the best for him."

"Thank you, sir..." nodded Wes.

"Good day, Sergeant." The Captain nodded back.

As he walked out, Wes didn't think twice and quickly made his way towards the holding cells.

"Hey, Perry! What's the rush?" called out one of the officers, to which Wes did not respond and kept moving.

After passing multiple halls, he finally arrived in the holding cell section. He took a nervous gulp before entering. After checking each cell one by one, he finally stopped in front of the tenth cell, which had the name _William Jensen_ printed on the screen.

 _Why, God?... Why?!_

Behind the plexiglass frame was William, sitting on one of the benches and staring down on the floor. Though his injuries appeared to be gone, he looked more hurt than Wes has ever seen.

He never thought this day would come... He did not want to believe any of this. But it was clear that this wasn't a dream or hallucination. What occurred today was the culmination of everything that happened since New Florencia. Wes looked back into the past memories, wondering where it all went wrong and what he could've done better. But none of it mattered. As the Captain said, it is what it is and there was nothing he could do. Once again, out of panic, Wes began mentally praying. Instead of praying out of hope, however, Wes prayed for forgiveness. He failed his oath to himself and to God. It mattered not if that oath was beyond the scope of his abilities. He made a promise, knowing he might not be able to keep it. For that, he could not forgive himself and didn't expect any different from God.

After finishing his prayers, Wes slowly knocked on the plexiglass to get William's attention. William did not budge and continued to stay motionless. Hesitant, Wes slowly knocked again. As William finally looked up, there was nothing but despair and sorrow in his eyes. Upon realizing it was Wes, William gritted his teeth in anger before turning around and facing away.

That gesture felt like a stab in Wes' heart. He did not blame him, however. All the pain and misery William suffered was due to his inability to shield him from it. Wes hasn't shed tears since his jarhead days. However, for the first time in years, he felt warm liquid dripping from his eyes.

* * *

 **POV: William**

As Wes stared back at Wes, William turned his back on him before staring into the wall. He was one of the last people he wanted to see right now...

This was it now. He was done. In truth, he wasn't really surprised by any of this. Whether it was the drugs or the fights, he knew it would all come back to bite him in the ass, one way or the other. What he did to Zack was merely the final nail on the coffin. Still, it all felt too sudden. What seemed like a joke was now a reality. Soon, he would end up in an even smaller cell, dressed in an orange jump suit and forced to eat prison food. Perhaps it wasn't going to be all bad, however, as he didn't have to deal with school and the crappy people in it. No more homework and no more shitty teachers... All he had to do now was wait until his time was up and he would be free to do whatever he wanted! Despite trying to look at this in a positive light, however, he still felt a sense of sadness and regret. He couldn't figure what it was until it finally occurred to him.

 _Adrianna..._

Though they met under abnormal circumstances, ever since William met her, there was less negativity in his life and he began to have a brighter outlook on everything. In other words, his life began to turn for the better. It all seemed great until today, when Zack had to come and screw up everything... Almost instantly, anger took over his mind.

"Damn you, asshole!" William roared and punched the wall.

William finally found someone he connected with... Someone he laughed with... Some he... he... loved! Now that was being taken away from him and he would probably never see her again. Even worse, what would Adrianna think of what William did? Would she still view him the same way? Or maybe turn her back on him like everyone else did... Regardless, this was all his doing and William hated himself so much for it. And there was no going back.

"GOD DAMN IT! SHIT!"

Ultimately, what everyone said was right. He was nothing but a stupid delinquent and a violent criminal who was too dangerous to be around normal people. And his fate was inevitable.

William suddenly broke down in tears, wallowing in his own pity.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **We are finally finished with the first Act! Wow, what a way to end it, right (sarcasm)? I am so happy and relieved by it. Again, I hate how it felt like a countdown. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed writing these chapters but I also really wanted to move on to the more exciting parts of this story. Fortunately, we're finally able to do it now.**

 **Unfortunately, I will also put this story on a short hiatus. I am taking summer classes at the moment and I'd like to focus on that more. Furthermore, I also have another story planned, which I plan to write in parallel to this one. Most people say I should focus on one thing at a time but in this case, I want to be able to switch back and forth between two different things because if I focus on one thing, I'll get writer's block. Therefore, when I do have writer's block for one story, at least I can use that time to focus on the other story. That way I stay more productive. Plus, it's good to change up the paste.**

 **Now that we've covered William's early years, in the next Act, we'll be focussing on other elements and different characters. It will be more politically themed as it focussed more on human society in general, such as its political situation, as well as what it was generally like before the war. I'm pretty excited for what I have to show you.**

 **As for the second story, I'm excited to announce that it will take place during the Interplanetary Wars. It's one of my more ambitious ideas since this is a part of the Halo universe that's often overlooked. Even though Halo Mythos covers a little bit of it, I feel like the details of the conflict are still too vague. But 343 probably won't care much about it since they're more concerned about the main Halo games, understandably so. It will take some time since I will have to create an entirely new setting almost four centuries before the Human-Covenant War. When I release the first chapter, I will have a better summary and description for it. Until then, please be patient!**

 **That's it for my A/N! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I certainly hope you're enjoying this story so far!**

 **Please review! Thank you!**


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